Shadow Earth
by Inu-Aisuru
Summary: Someone who had long silver hair flowing down their back. My mother hadn’t seen him either. All she saw was my face. I guess my expression must not have been the most pleasant, since her own fell, and she said with a sad sigh, “oh Kagome, not again.
1. Default Chapter

ATTENTION: okay... this is what I'm thinking...  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha Disclaimer: I do not own this story. Jenny Carroll wrote it. So... keep that in mind. All I did was subsutute some words here and there. So if you review, just say "good story" and read it. AGAIN, JENNY CARROLL WROTE THIS!!!  
  
Ok, well, here it is...  
  
Dark Earth  
  
They told me it was for the better.  
  
I didn't believe them, but that's what they told me. They told me I'd be able to be myself, anytime.  
  
"Oh no," my mom had said, "You'll need a sweater. A coat too. It can get cold there. Not as cold as home, maybe, but pretty chilly."  
  
Which was why I wore my black leather motorcycle jacket on the plane. I could have shipped it, I guess, with the rest of my stuff, but it kind of made me feel better to wear it.  
  
So there I was, sitting on the plane in a black leather motorcycle jacket, looking through the window as we landed. And I thought, great. Black leather... already I'm fitting in, just like I knew I would... ...Not.  
  
My mom isn't particularly fond of my leather jacket, but I swear I didn't wear it to make her mad or anything. I'm not resentful of the fact that she decided to marry a guy who lives three thousand miles away, forcing me to leave school in the middle of my sophomore year; abandon the best- and pretty much only- friend I've had since kindergarten; leave the city I've been living in for all of my sixteen years. Oh no. I'm not a bit resentful.  
  
The thing is, I really do like Nobunaga, my new step dad. He's good for my mom. He makes her happy. And he's very nice to me.  
  
It's just this moving to Tokyo thing that bugs me. Oh and did I mention Nobunaga's three other kids? They were all there to greet me when I got off the plane. My mom, Nobunaga, and Nobunaga's three sons. Dumb, Dumber, and Dumberer, I call them. They're my new stepbrothers.  
  
"Kagome!" Even if I hadn't heard my mom squealing my name as I walked through the gate, I wouldn't have missed them- my new family. Nobunaga was making his two youngest boys hold up this big sign that said "WELCOME HOME, KAGOME!" Everybody getting off my flight was talking by it going, "Aw, look how cute," to there travel companions, and smiling at me in this sickening way.  
  
Oh yeah. I'm fitting in. I'm fitting in just great. "Okay" I said, walking up to my new family fast. "You can put the sign down now."  
  
But my mom was too busy hugging me to pay any attention. "Oh Kag!" she kept saying. I hate when anybody but my mom calls me Kag, so I shot the boys this mean look over her shoulder, just in case they were getting these big ideas. They just kept grinning at me from over the stupid sign, Dumberer because he's too dumb to know any better, Dumb because well- I guess because he might have been glad to see me. Dumb's weird that way. Dumber, the oldest, just stood there, looking.... Well, sleepy.  
  
"How was your flight, kiddo?" Nobunaga took my bag off my shoulder, and put it on his own. He seemed surprised by how heavy it was, and went, "whoa, what've you got in here, anyway? You know it's a felony to smuggle New York City fire hydrants across state lines."  
  
I smiled at him. Nobunaga's this really big goof, but he's a nice big goof. He wouldn't have the slightest idea what constitutes a felony in the state of New York since he's only been there like five times. Which was, incidentally, exactly how many visits it took him to convince my mother to marry him.  
  
"It's not a fire hydrant, I said. "It's a parking meter. And I have four more bags." "Four?" Andy Nobunaga pretended he was shocked. "What do you think you're doing, moving in, or something?"  
  
Did I mention that Nobunaga thinks he's a comedian? He's not. He's a carpenter.  
  
"Kagome," Dumb said, all enthusiastically. "Kagome, did you notice that as you were landing, the tail of the plane kicked up a little? That was from an updraft. It's caused when a mass moving at a considerable rate of speed encounters a counter-blowing wind velocity of equal or greater strength"  
  
Dumb, Nobunaga's youngest kid is twelve, but he's going on about forty. He spent almost the entire wedding reception telling me about alien cattle mutilation, and how Area 51 is just this big cover up by the American government, which doesn't want us to know that We Are Not Alone.  
  
"Oh Kagome." My mom kept saying, "I'm so glad you're here. You're just going to love the shrine. It just didn't feel like home at first, but now that you're here.... Oh, and wait until you've seen your room. Nobunaga 's fixed it up so nice..."  
  
Nobunaga and my mom spent weeks before they got married looking for a house big enough for all four kids to have their own rooms. They finally settled on this huge shrine in the middle of Tokyo, which they'd only been able to afford because they'd bought it in this completely wretched state, and this construction company Nobunaga does a lot of work for fixed it up at this big discount rate. M mom had been going on for days about my room, which she keeps swearing is the nicest one in the house.  
  
"The view!" she kept saying, "an ocean view from the big bay window in you room! Oh Kagome, you're going to love it!"  
  
I was sure I was going to love it. About as much as I was going to love giving up bagels for alfalfa sprouts, and the subway for surfing, and all that sort of stuff.  
  
For some reason, Dumberer opened his mouth, and went, "do you like the sign?" in that stupid voice of his. I can't believe he's my age. He's on the school wrestling team, though, so what can you expect? All he ever thinks about, from what I could tell when I had to sit next to him at the wedding reception- I had to sit in-between him and Dumb, so you can imagine how the conversation just flowed- is shake holds and body-building protein shakes.  
  
"Yeah, great sign," I said, yanking it out of his meaty hands, and holding it so that the lettering faced the floor. "Can we go? I wanna pick up my bags before someone else does."  
  
"Oh right" my mom said. She gave me one last hug. "Oh I'm so glad to see you! You look so great..." and then, even though you could tell she didn't want to say it, she went ahead and said it anyway, in a low voice, so no one else could hear; "Thought I've talked to you before about that jacket, Kagome. And I though you were throwing those jeans away."  
  
I was wearing my oldest jeans, the ones with the holes in the knees; they went really well with my black silk T and my zip up ankle boots. The jeans and boots coupled with my black leather motorcycle jacket and my Army- Navy Surplus shoulder bag, made me look like a teen runaway in a made-for- TV movie. But hey, when you're flying for eight hours across the country, you want to be comfortable.  
  
I said that, and my mom just rolled her eyes and dropped it. That's the good thing about my mom. She doesn't harp. Like other moms do. Dumb, Dumber, and Dumberer have no idea how lucky they are.  
  
"All right" she said instead. "Let's get your bags." Then, raising her voice, she called, "Jake, come on. We're going to get Kagome's bags."  
  
She had to call Dumber by name, since he looked as id he had fallen asleep standing up. I asked my mother once if Jake, who is a senior in high school, had narcolepsy, or possibly a drug habit, and she was like, "No, why would you say that?" Like the guy doesn't just stand there blinking all the time, never saying a word to anyone.  
  
Wait, that's not true. He did say something to me, once. Once he said, "Hey are you in a gang?" He asked me that at the wedding, when he caught me standing outside with my leather jacket on over my maid of honor's dress, sneaking a cigarette.  
  
Give me a break, all right? It was my first and only cigarette ever. I was under a lot of stress at the time. I was worried my mom was going to marry this guy and move to Tokyo and forget all about me. I swear I haven't smoked a single cigarette since.  
  
And don't get me wrong about Dumber. At six foot one with the same shaggy blonde hair and twinkly blue eyes as his dad, he's what my best friend Eri would call a hottie. But he's not the shiniest rock in the rock garden, if you know what I mean.  
  
Dumb was still going on about wind velocity. He was explaining the speed with which it is necessary to travel in order to break through the earth's gravitational force. This speed is called escape velocity. I decided Dumb might be useful to have around, homework-wise, even if I am three grades ahead of him.  
  
While Dumb talked, I looked around. Eri- she was my best friend back home; well okay, she was my ONLY friend, really- told me before I left that I'd find there were advantages to having three stepbrothers. She should know since she's got four real brothers. Anyway, I didn't believe her anymore than I'd believe in pigs flying. But when Dumber picked up two of my bags, and Dumberer grabbed the other two, leaving me with exactly nothing to carry, since Nobunaga had my shoulder bag, I finally realized what she was talking about: brothers can be useful. They can carry really heavy stuff and not even look like it's bothering them.  
  
Hey, I packed those bags. I knew what was in them. They were not light. But Dumber and Dumberer were like, No problem here. Let's get moving.  
  
My bags secure, we headed out into the parking lot. As the automatic doors opened, everyone-including my mom- reached into a pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Apparently they all knew something I didn't. And as I stepped outside, I realized what it was.  
  
It's sunny here.  
  
Not just sunny either, but bright- so bright and colorful, it hurts your eyes. I had sunglasses, too, somewhere, but since it had been about forty degrees and sleeting when I left home, I hadn't thought to put them anywhere easily accessible. When my mother had first told me we'd be moving- she and Nobunaga decided it was easier fro her, with one kid and a job as a TV news reporter, to relocate than it would be for Nobunaga and his three kids to do it, especially considering that Nobunaga owns his own business- she'd explained to me that I'd love Tokyo. "It's the capital of Japan! So many famous people will be there!" she told me.  
  
As I stood in the parking lot, squinting at the hills surrounding the San Jose International Airport, I saw that there were a lot of hills, and the grass on them was dry and brown.  
  
But dotting the hills were these trees, trees not like any I'd ever seen before. They were squashed on top as if a giant fist had come down from the sky and given them a thump. I found out later these were called Cyprus trees.  
  
My moment of adoration was shattered when Dumberer announced suddenly, "ill drive" and started for the driver's seat of this huge utility vehicle we were approaching.  
  
"I will drive," Nobunaga said, firmly.  
  
"Aw, dad," Dumberer said. "How'm I ever going to pass the test if you never let me practice?"  
  
"You can practice in the Rambler," Nobunaga said. He opened up the back of his land Rover, and started putting my bags into it. "That goes for you too Kagome."  
  
This startled me. "What goes for me too?" "You can practice driving in the rambler." He wagged a finger jokingly in my direction. "But only if there's someone with a valid license in the passenger seat."  
  
I just blinked up at him. "I can't drive," I said.  
  
Dumberer let out this big horselaugh. "You can't drive?" he elbowed Dumber, who was leaning against the side of the truck, his face turned toward the sun. "Hey man, she can't drive!"  
  
"It isn't all that at all uncommon." Dumb said, "for a native, like Kagome, to lack a driver's license. Where Kagome comes from, There's the largest mass transit system in Japan, serving a population of thirteen point two million people in a four thousand square mile radius fanning our through several other places? And that one point seven billion riders take advantage of their extensive fleet of subways, buses, and railroads every year?"  
  
Everybody looked at Dumb. Then my mother said, carefully, "I never kept a car in the city."  
  
Nobunaga closed the doors to the back of the Land rover, "Don't worry Kagome," he said. "We'll get you enrolled in a driver's Ed course right away. You can take it and catch up to brad in no time."  
  
I looked at Dumberer. Never in a million years had I ever expected that someone would suggest that I needed to cat up to brad in and capacity whatsoever.  
  
But I could see I was in for a lot of surprises.  
  
And not just because I was living on the opposite side of the continent. Not just because everywhere I looked, I saw things I'd never see back home: roadside stands advertising artichokes or pomegranates, twelve for a dollar.  
  
So caught up in all the excitement, I didn't hear Nobunaga and my mom talking about my school.  
  
"Kagome has never been wild about very old buildings." My mom said.  
  
"Oh, Then I guess she isn't going to like the shrine."  
  
"I gripped the back of Nobunaga's headrest. "Why?" I demanded in a tight voice. "Why am I not going to like the shrine?"  
  
I saw why of course as soon as we pulled in. the shrine was huge, and impossible pretty, with traditional Japanese style turrets and a widow's walk- the whole works. My mom had it painted blue and white and cream, and big, shady pine trees, and sprawling, flowering shrubs surrounded it. Three stories high, constructed entirely from wood, and not the horrible glass- and-steal or terra cotta stuff from the houses around it were made of; it was the loveliest, most tasteful house in the neighborhood.  
  
And I didn't want to set foot in it.  
  
My mother kept glancing in my direction as we climbed the many steps to the front porch. I knew she was nervous about what I was going to think. I was kind of irked at her, really, for not warning me. I guess I could understand why she hadn't though. If she'd told me she had bought a house that was more than a hundred years old, I wouldn't have moved out here. I would have stayed with grandpa until it came time for me to leave for college.  
  
Because my mom's right. I don't like old buildings. And yet when my mom said, "come on Kagome. Come see your room!" I couldn't help but follow after her.  
  
My room was separate from the house, a considerate choice made by my mother. A bay window looked out over the same view as the porch. It was sweet of them, really, to give me such a nice room, the room that had the best view of the whole house, even if they were separate.  
  
And when I saw how much trouble they'd gone to, to make the room feel like home to me- or at least to some excessively feminine, phantom girl... not me. I had never been the glass-topped dressing table, princess phone type- how Nobunaga had put cream colored wallpaper, dotted with blue forget- me-nots, all along the top of the intricate white wainscoting that lined the walls; how the same wallpaper covered the walls of my own personal adjoining bathroom; how they'd bought me a new bed- a four poster with a lace canopy, the kind my mother had always wanted for me and had evidently been unable to resist- felt bad about how I'd acted in the car. I really did. I though to myself, as I walked around the room, okay this am not so bad. So far you're in the clear. Maybe it'll be all right, maybe no one was ever unhappy in this house, maybe all those people who got shot deserved it....  
  
Until I turned toward the bay window, and saw that someone was already sitting on the window seat Nobunaga had so lovingly made for me.  
  
Someone who was not related to me, or to Dumb, Dumber, and Dumberer. Someone who had long silver hair flowing down their back.  
  
I turned towards Nobunaga, to see if he's noticed the intruder. He hadn't, even though he was right there, right in front of his face.  
  
My mother hadn't seen him either. All she saw was my face. I guess my expression must not have been the most pleasant, since her own fell, and she said with a sad sigh, "oh Kagome, not again."  
  
A/N: ok well this is chappy 1, please Review after you've read it and tell me what ya think!  
  
LYL!!  
  
Oh, and of course the Mystery man sitting on her window is... INUYASHA!  
  
So its gonna be Inu/Kag pairing.  
  
Next chapter is a confrontation between the two. It's not the most romantic thing in the world, but hey, in the episode he tried to kill her right?  
  
So I'll cya lataz for now. 


	2. Chapter 2

I guess I should explain. I'm not exactly your typical sixteen-year-old girl.  
O, I may seem normal enough, I guess. I don't do drugs, or drink, or smoke- well okay, except fro that one time when Dumber caught me. I don't have anything pierced, except for my ears, and only once on each earlobe. I don't have any tattoos. I've never even dyed my hair. Except for my boots and leather jacket, I don't wear an excessive amount of black. I don't even wear dark fingernail polish. All in all, I am a pretty normal, every day, Japanese teenage girl.  
Except, of course, for the fact that I can talk to demons.  
I probably shouldn't put it that way. I should probably say that demons talk to me. I mean, I don't go around initiating these conversations. In fact, I try to avoid the whole thing as much as possible.  
It's just that sometimes they wont let me. The demons, I mean.  
I don't think I'm crazy. At least not any crazier than you average sixteen year old. I uses I might seem crazy to some people. Certainly the majority of kids in my old neighborhood thought I was. Nuts, I mean. I've had the school counselors sicced on me more than once. Sometimes I even think it might be simpler just to let them lock me up. But even on the ninth floor of Bellevue-, which is at home where they lock crazy people-, I probably wouldn't be safe from the demons. They'd find me.  
They always do.  
I remember my first. I remember it as clearly as any of my other memories of that time, which is to say, not very well, since I was about two years old. I guess I remember it about as well as I remember taking a mouse away from our cat and cradling it in my arms until my horrified mother took it away.  
Hey, I was two okay? I didn't know then that mice were something to be afraid of. Demons, either, for that matter. That's why, fourteen years later, neither of them frighten me. Startle me, maybe, sometimes. Annoy me, a lot. But frighten me?  
Never.  
The demon, like the mouse, was little, gray and helpless. To this day, I don't know who she was. I spoke to her, some baby gibberish that she didn't understand. Demons can't understand two-year-olds any better than anybody else. She just looked at me sadly from the top of the stairs of our apartment building. I guess I felt sorry for her, the way I had for the mouse, and I wanted to help her. Only I didn't know how. So I did what any uncertain two-year-old would do. I ran for my mother.  
That was when I learned my first lesson concerning demons: only I can see them.  
And I see all demons. All of them. And let me tell you, that is a lot of demons.  
I found out the same day that I saw my first demon that most people- even my own mother- cant see them at all. Neither can anyone else I have ever met. At least no one who'll admit it.  
Which brings us to the second thing I learned about demons that day, fourteen years ago: it's really better in the long run, not to mention that you've seen one. Or, as in my case, any.  
I'm not saying my mother figured out that it was demon I was pointing to and gibbering about that afternoon when I was two. I doubt she knew it. She probably thought I was trying to tell her something about the mouse, which she had confiscated from me earlier that morning. But she looked gamely up the stairs and nodded and said. "Uh-huh. Listen, Kagome. What do you want for lunch today? Grilled cheese? Or tuna fish?"  
I hadn't exactly expected a reaction similar to the one the mouse had gotten- my mother, who'd been cradling a neighbor's newborn at the time, had let out a glorious shriek at the sight of the mouse in my arms, and had screamed even harder at my proud announcement, "look mommy. Now I've got a baby too." Which I realize now she couldn't have understood, since she didn't get it about the demon.  
But I had expected an acknowledgement of the thing floating at the top of the stairs. I was given explanations for virtually everything else I encountered on a daily basis, from fire hydrants to electrical outlets. Why not the thing at the top of the stairs?  
But as I sat munching my grilled cheese a little later, I realized that the reason my mother had offered no explanation for the gray thing was that she hadn't been able to see it. To her, it wasn't there.  
At two years old, this didn't seem unreasonable to me. It just seemed, at the time, like another thing that separated adults from children: Children had to eat all their vegetables. Adults did not. Children could ride the merry-go-round in the park. Adults could not. Children could see the gray things. Adults could not.  
And even though I was only two years old, I understood that the little gray thing at the top of the stairs was not something to be discussed. Not with anybody. Not ever.  
And I never did. I never told anyone about my first ghost, nor did I ever discuss with anyone the hundreds of other ghosts I encountered over the course of the next few years. What was there to discuss really? I saw them. They spoke to me. For the most part, I didn't understand what they were saying, what they wanted, and they usually went away. End of story.  
It probably would have gone on like that indefinitely if my father hadn't suddenly up and died.  
Really. Just like that. One minute he was there cooking and making jokes in the kitchen like he'd always done, and the next day, he was gone.  
And, people kept assuring me all through the week following his death- , which I spent, on the stoop in front of our building, waiting for my dad to some home- he was never coming back.  
I, of course, didn't believe their assurances. Why should I? My dad, not coming back? Were they nuts? Sure, he might have been dead. I got that part. But he was also part demon and was definitely coming back. Who was going to help me with my math homework? Who was going to wake up early with me on Saturday mornings, and make Belgian waffles and watch cartoons? Who was going to teach me to drive, like he's promised, when I turned sixteen? My dad might have been dead, but I was definitely going to see him again. I saw lots of demons on a daily basis. Why shouldn't I see my dad?  
It turned out I was right. Oh, my dad was dead. No doubt about that. He'd died of a massive coronary. My mom had his body cremated, and she put his ashes in an antique German beer tankard. You know, that kind with the lid. My dad had always really liked beer. She put the tankard on a shelf, high up, where the cat couldn't knock it over, and sometimes, when she didn't think I was around, I caught her talking o it.  
This made me feel really sad. I mean, I guess I couldn't blame her really. If I didn't know any better, I'd probably have talked to that tankard too.  
But that, you see, was what all those people on my block had been wrong about. My dad was dead, yeah. But I did see him again.  
In fact, I probably saw him more now than I did when he was alive. When he was alive, he had to go to work most days. Now that he's dead, he doesn't have to do all that much. So I see him a lot. Almost too much, in fact. His favorite thing to do is to suddenly materialize when I least expect it. It's kind of annoying.  
My dad was the one who finally explained it to me. So I guess, in a way, it's a good thing he did die, since I might have never known, otherwise.  
Actually that isn't true. There was a tarot card reader who said something about it once. It was at a school carnival. I only went because Eri didn't want to go alone. I pretty much thought it was a crock, but I went along because that's what best friends do for one another. The woman- Madame Zara, Psychic Medium- read Eri's cards, telling her exactly what she wanted to hear: oh you're going to be very successful, you'll be a brain surgeon, you'll marry at thirty and have three kids, blah, blah, blah. When she was done, I got up to go, but Eri insisted Madame Zara do a reading for me, too.  
You can guess what happened. Madame Zara read the cards once, looked confused, and shuffled them up and read them again. Then she looked at me.  
"You," she said, "talk to demons."  
  
This excited Eri. She went, "oh my God! Oh my God! Really? Kagome, did you hear that? You can talk to demons! You're a psychic medium too!"  
"Not a medium," Madame Zara said. "A miko."  
Eri looked crushed. "A what? What's that?"  
But I knew. I'd never known what it was called, but I knew what it was. My dad hadn't put it quite that way when he'd explained things to me, but I got the gist of it anyway. That's the only way I can think to explain it. I don't know how I got so lucky- I mean, I am normal in every other respect. Well, almost, anyway. I just have this unfortunate ability to communicate with demons.  
Not any demons, either. Only the unhappy ones.  
So you can see that my life has really been just a bowl of cherries these past sixteen years.  
Imagine being haunted- literally haunted- by demons, every single minute of every single day of your life. It is not pleasant. You go down to the deli to get a soda- oops, demon on the corner. And all you wanted was a soda.  
I'm the miko. I tell you, it is not a fate I would wish on anybody.  
There isn't a whole lot of payoff in the miko field. It isn't like anyone's ever offered me a salary or anything. Not even hourly compensation.  
For the most part, the demons are friendly. Sometimes though, they can get rough. I mean, they try to hurt people. On purpose. That's when I usually get mad. That's when I feel compelled to kick a little demon butt.  
Which was what my mom meant when she said, "oh Kagome, not again." When I kick demon butt, things have a tendency to get a little... messy.  
Not that I had any intention of messing up my new room. Which is why I turned my back on the demon sitting on my window seat and said, "Never mind, mom. Everything's fine. The room is great. Thanks so much."  
I could tell she didn't believe me. It's hard to fake out with my mom. I know she suspects there's something up with me. She just can't figure out what it is. Which is probably a good thing because it would shake up the world, as she knows it in too major a way. I mean, she's a television new reporter. She only believes what she can see. And she can't see demons.  
I can't tell you how much I wish I could be like her.  
"Well," she said. "Well I'm glad you like it. I was sort of worried. I mean, I know how you get about... well, old places."  
Old places are the worst for me because the older a building is, the more chance there is that a demon's there, and that he or she is still hanging around there looking for justice.  
"Really mom," I said. "It's great. I love it."  
Nobunaga, hearing this, hustled around the room all excitedly, showing me the clap-on, clap-off lights and various other gadgets he'd installed. I followed him around, expressing my delight, being careful not to look in the demon's direction. It was really sweet, how much Nobunaga wanted me to be happy. And I was determined, because he wanted it so much, to be happy. At least happy as it's possible for someone like me to be.  
After a while, Nobunaga ran out of stuff to show me, and went away to start the barbecue, since in honor of my arrival, we were having surf and turf for dinner. Dumber and Dumberer took off to "hit some waves" before we ate, and Dumb, muttering mysteriously about an experiment he'd been working on, drifted off to another part of the house, leaving me alone with my mother... well, sort of.  
"Is it really all right, Kagome?" my mom wanted to know. "I know it's a big change. I know it's asking a lot of you-"  
  
I took off my leather jacket. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but it was pretty hot out for January. "Its fine, mom." I said. "Really."  
"I mean, asking you to leave grandpa, and Eri, and New York. It's selfish of me, I know. I know things haven't been... well, easy for you. Especially since daddy died.  
My mother likes to think that the reason I'm not like traditional teenage girls, like she was when she was my age, is that I lost my father at such an early age. She blames his death for everything, from the fact that I have no friends- with the exception of Eri- to the fact that I sometimes engage in extremely weird behavior. And I suppose some of the stuff I've done in the past would seem pretty weird to someone who didn't know why I was doing it, or couldn't see who I was doing it for. I have certainly been caught any number of times in places I wasn't supposed to be. I've been brought home by the police a few times, accused of trespassing or vandalism or breaking and entering.  
And while I've never actually been convicted of anything, I've spent any number of hours in my mother's therapist's office, being assured that this tendency I have to talk to myself is perfectly normal, but that my propensity to talk to people who aren't there probably isn't.  
"Well," my mom said, "I guess if you don't want help unpacking, I'll go see how Nobunaga is doing with dinner."  
Nobunaga, in addition to being able to build just about anything, was also an excellent cook, something my mother most definitely was not. I said, "yeah, mom, you go do that, I'll just get settled in here, and I'll be down in a minute." My mom nodded and got up-but she wasn't about to let me escape that easily. Just as she was about to go out the door, she turned around and said, her blue eyes filled with tears, "I just want you to be happy, Kagome. That's all I've ever wanted. Do you think you can be happy here?"  
I gave her a hug. I'm as tall as she is, in my ankle boots. "Sure mom," I said. "Sure, I'll be happy here. I feel at home already."  
"Really?" my mom was sniffling, "You swear?"  
"I do." And I want lying wither. I mean, there'd be demons in my bedroom back at home too.  
She went away, and I shut the door quietly behind her. I waited until I couldn't hear her heels on the stairs anymore, and then I turned around.  
"All right," I said to the presence on the window seat. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
A/N:  
  
I know I told you there'd be a confrontation between Inuyasha and Kagome.... But I promise it'll be in the next chapter... I have tons of stuff to do for school tomorrow including writing a speech and memorizing it by Wednesday.  
  
The nest chapter, I'm afraid, is going to be very, very short...  
  
Too much stuff going on.  
  
If you're waiting for me to update my other stories, I'm sort I haven't gotten around to it yet! But I will sometime!  
  
( cya layaz! 


	3. Chapter 3

To say that the guy looked surprised to be addressed in this manner would have been a massive understatement. He didn't just look surprised. He actually looked over his shoulder, to see if it was really him I was talking too.  
But of course, the only thing behind him was the window, and through it, that incredible view. So then he turned back to look at me, and must have seen my gaze was fastened directly on his face, since he breathed, "oh my gods..."  
"It's no use calling on your higher power," I informed him, as I swung the pink-tassled chair to my new dressing table around, and straddled it. "In case you haven't noticed, h isn't paying attention to you. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left you here to fester for-"I took in his outfit, which looked a lot like something they'd wear and old traditional Japanese culture movie. "What is it, five-hundred years? Has it really been that long since you've been really alive?"  
He stared at me with wide eyes that were as golden as honey. "What is... REALLY being alive?' he asked, in a voice that sounded rusty from disuse.  
I rolled my eyes. "Normal," I translated. "Not a demon. Human. Visible." When I saw from his perplexed expression that he still didn't understand, I said, with some exasperation, "Like actually being seen."  
"Oh," he said. "I'm a hanyou." But instead of answering my question, he shook his head. "I don't understand," he said in tones of wonder. "I don't understand how it is that you can see me. All these years, no one has ever-"  
"Yeah," I said, cutting him off. I hear this kind of thing a lot, you understand. "Well listen, the times, you know, they are a'changin'. So what's your glitch?"  
He blinked at me with those big light eyes. His eyelashes were longer than mine. It isn't often I run into a hanyou who also happens to be a hottie, but this guy...boy, he must have been something back when he was alive because here he was dead and I was already trying to catch a peek at what was going on beneath the red hakama he was wearing very much open at the throat, exposing quite a bit of chest, and some of his stomach, too. Do demons-... hanyous have six-packs? This was not something I had ever had occasion- or desire- to explore before.  
Not that I was about to let myself get distracted by that kind of thing now. I'm a professional miko, after all.  
"Glitch?" he echoed. Even his voice was liquid, his Japanese as flat and unaccented as I fancied my own was. He clearly had some Inu-blood in him, noting at his doglike ears on the top of his head- which I have to say, are just about the most adorable things in the world-, but he was as Japanese as I was- or as Japanese as someone who was born before Tokyo existed could be.  
"Yeah." I cleared my throat. He had turned a little and put his bare foot onto the pale blue cushion that covered the window seat, and I had seen definitive proof that yes, hanyou could indeed have six-packs, his abdominal muscles were deeply ridged, and covered with a light dusting of silky black hair.  
I swallowed. Hard.  
"Glitch," I said. "Problem. Why are you still here?" he looked at me, his expression blank, but interested. I elaborated. "Why haven't you crossed to the other side, or wherever demons go?"  
He shook his head. Have I mentioned that his hair was long, silver, and sort of crisp looking, like if you touched it, it would be really, really thick? "I don't know what you mean."  
I was getting sort of warm, but I had already taken off my leather jacket, so I didn't know what to do about it. I couldn't very well take off anything else with him sitting there watching me. This realization might have contributed to my suddenly very foul mood.  
"What do you mean, you don't know what I mean?" I snapped, pushing some hair away from my eyes. "You're hanyou. You don't belong here. You're supposed to be off doing whatever it is that demons do. Rejoicing in heaven, or burning in hell, or being reincarnated, or ascending another plane of consciousness, or whatever. You're not supposed to be just... well, just hanging around."  
He looked at me thoughtfully, balancing his elbow on his uplifted knee, his arm sort of dangling. He gave a wide smirk, which exposed a white sharp fang. "And what if I happen to like just hanging around?" he wanted to know.  
I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling he was making fun of me. And I don't like being made fun of. I really don't. People back home used to do it all the time- well; until I learned how effectively a fist connecting with their nose could shut them up.  
I wasn't ready to hit the guy- not yet. But I was close. I mean, I'd just traveled a gazillion miles for what seemed like days in order to live with a bunch of stupid boys; I still had to unpack; I had already practically made my mother cry; and then I find a hanyou in my bedroom. Can you blame me for being... well, short with him?  
"Look," I said, standing up fast, and swinging my leg around the back of the chair. "You can do all the hanging around you want, hanyou. Slack away. I don't really care. But you can't do it here."  
"Inuyasha," he said, not moving.  
"What?"  
"You called me hanyou. I thought you might like to know I have a name. It's Inuyasha."  
I nodded. "Right. That figures. Well, fine. Inuyasha then. You can't stay here, Inuyasha."  
"And you?" Inuyasha was smiling at me now. He had a nice face. A good face. The kind of face that, back in my old high school, would have gotten him elected prom king in no time flat. The kind of face Eri would have cut out of a magazine and taped to her bedroom wall.  
Not that he was pretty. Not at all. Dangerous was how he looked. Mighty dangerous.  
"And me, what?" I knew I was being rude. I didn't care.  
"What is your name?"  
I glared at him. "Look just tell me what you want, and get out. I'm hot, and I want to change clothes. I don't have time for-"  
He interrupted, as amiably as if he hadn't heard me talking at all. "That women- your mother- called you Kag." His golden eyes were bright on me. "Short for Kagami?"  
"Kagome." I said, correcting him automatically.  
He grinned. "So this is your room, now is it, Kagome?"  
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah this is my room now. SO you're going to have to clear out."  
"I'M going to have to clear out?" he raised one black eyebrow. "This has been my home fore centuries. Why do I have to leave it?"  
"Because." I was getting really mad. Mostly because I was so hot, and I wanted to open a window, but the windows were behind him, and I didn't want to get that close to him. "This is MY room. I'm not sharing it with some hanyou."  
That got to him. He slammed his foot back down on the floor- hard- and stood up. I instantly wished I hadn't said anything. He was tall, way taller than me, and in my ankle boots I'm five- eight.  
At the same time, the antique mirror hanging over my new dressing table started to wobble dangerously on the hook that held it to the wall. This was not due, I knew, to a Tokyo earthquake, but to the agitation of a hanyou in front of me, whose abilities were obviously of a kinetic bent.  
That's the thing about demons: they're so touchy! The slightest thing can set them off.  
"Whoa." I said, holding up both my hands, palms outward. "Down. Sit, boy."  
  
(Author/interruption- no nothing happens, when Kagome says, "sit,")  
  
"Hey," I said. And that's when I made my big mistake. I reached out, not liking the finger he was jabbing at me, and grabbed it, hard, yanking on his hand and pulling him toward me so I could be sure he heard me as I hissed, "stop with the mirror already. And stop shoving you finger in my face. Do it again, and I'll break it."  
I flung his hand away, and saw, with satisfaction, that the mirror had stopped shaking. But then I happened to glance at his face.  
At that moment, all the color drained from Inuyasha's face, as if every ounce of blood that had once been there, had evaporated just at that moment.  
Being a demon, and being invisible to the human eye, meant that my hand should have passed right through him. Right?  
Wrong. That's how it works for most people. But not for people like me. Not for the mikos. We can see demons, we can talk to demons, and if necessary, we can kick a demon's butt.  
But this isn't something I like to go around advertising. I try to avoid touching them- touching anybody, really- as much as possible. If all attempts at mediation have failed, and I have to use a little physical coercion on a recalcitrant demon, I generally prefer that I am capable of doing so. Sneak attacks are always advisable when dealing with members of the underworld, who are notoriously dirty fighters.  
Inuyasha, looking down at his finger as if I'd burned a whole through it, seemed perfectly incapable of saying anything. It was probably the first time he'd been touched by anyone in centuries. That kind of thing can blow a guy's mind. Especially a demon.  
I took advantage of his astonishment, and said, in my sternest, most no-nonsense tone, "now look, Inuyasha. This is my room, understand? You can't stay here. You've either got to let me help you get to where you're supposed to go, or you're going to have to find some other house to haunt. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."  
Inuyasha looked up from his finer, his expression still one of utter disbelief. "Who are you?" he asked, softly. "What kind of...girl are you?"  
He hesitated so long before he said the word girl that it was clear he wasn't all certain it was appropriate in my case. This kind of bugged me. I mean, I may not have been the most popular girl in school, but no one ever denied I was an actual girl. Truck drivers honk at me at crosswalks now and then, and not because they want me to get out of the way. Construction workers sometimes holler rude things at me, especially when I wear my leather miniskirt. I am no unattractive, or mannish in any way. Sure, I'd just threatened to break his finger off, but that didn't mean I wasn't a girl, for God's sake!  
"I'll tell you what kind of girl I'm not," I said, crankily. "I am not the kind of girl who's looking to share her room with a member of the opposite sex. Understand me? So either you move out, or I force you out. It's entirely up to you. I'll give you some time to think about it. But when I get back here, Inuyasha, I want you gone."  
I turned around and left.  
I had to. I don't usually lose arguments with demons, but I had a feeling I was losing that one, and badly. I shouldn't have been so short with him, and I shouldn't have been rude. I don't know what came over me, I really don't. I just....  
I guess I wasn't expecting to find a cute hanyou in my bedroom, is all.  
God, I thought, as I stormed down the hall. What am I going to do if he doesn't leave? I wont be able to change clothes in my own room!  
Give him a little time; a voice inside my head went. It was a voice I'd very carefully avoided telling my mom's therapist about.  
Give him a little time. He'll come around. They always do.  
Well most of the time anyway.  
  
A/N: Right. I told you it would be short.  
  
Oh well. Cya lataz. 


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner at the Higurashi household was pretty much like dinner in any other large household I have ever known: everybody talked at once- except of course Dumber, who only spoke when asked a direct question- and nobody wanted to clear the table afterward. I made a mental note to call Eri and tell her she'd been wrong. There really was no advantage, that I could see, in having brothers: they chewed with their mouths open, and ate every single Pillsbury Dough Boy bread roll before I'd even had one.  
After dinner, I decided it would be wise to avoid my room, and give Inuyasha plenty of time to make up his mind about whether he was leaving with or without his teeth...fangs. I'm not a big fan of violence, but it's an unfortunate by-product of my profession. Sometimes, the only way you can make someone listen is with you fist. This is not a technique espoused, I know, by the diagnostic manuals on most therapists' shelves.  
Then again, nobody ever said I was a therapist.  
And I'm not.... I'm a miko.  
The problem with my plan, of course, was that it was Saturday night. I'd forgotten what day it was in all the stress of the movie. Back home on a Saturday night, I'd probably have gone out with Eri, taken the subway to the Village and gone to see a movie, or just hung around Chihiro's Pizza Parlor, watching people walk by. Hey, I may have been a big city girl, even before, but that doesn't mean my life there was glamorous by any means. I have never even been asked out by a boy, unless you count that time when a over-happy boy name Hojo asked me to skate with him during a couple's only song at the ice rink.  
And then I'd embarrassed myself by falling flat on my face. I'm so graceful.  
Not. My mom, however, was all anxious for me to throw myself into the social scene of Tokyo. As soon as the dishwasher was loaded, she said to Dumberer, "What are you doing tonight? Maybe you could take Kagome and introduce her to some people."  
Dumberer, who was having trouble mixing himself a protein shake- apparently, two dozen jump shrimps and a massive shell steak he's consumed at dinner hadn't been filling enough- no to mention those Pillsbury Dough Boy Bread rolls! - Went, "yeah, maybe I could, if someone wasn't working tonight..."  
Dumber, roused at the mention of him, and squinted down at his watch, and said, "Damn," He picked up his jean jacket and left the house.  
Dumb looked at the clock and made a tisk-tisking noise. "Late again. He's going to get himself fired if he doesn't watch it."  
Dumber had a job? This was news to me, so I asked, "where's he work?"  
"Tokyo Pizza." Dumb was performing some sort of bizarre experiment, which involved the dog, and my mother's tread mill. The dog, who was huge- a cross between a St. Bernard and a wooly mammoth, I think- was sitting very patiently on the floor while Dumb attached electrodes to small patches of the dog's skin he'd shaved free of fur. The strangest thing was that nobody seemed to mind, least of all the dog.  
"He works in a pizza place?"  
Nobunaga, scouring a baking dish in the sink, said, 'he delivers for them. Brings home a bundle in tips."  
"He's saving up," Dumberer informed me, a thick white milkshake mustache on his upper lip, "for a car."  
"Huh," I said. Not all that intelligent, but then again this was a boring conversation, and Dopey wasn't all that intelligent either. So in a way- it worked.  
"You guys want me to drop you anywhere?" Nobunaga offered, generously, "I'd be happy to. Whaddaya say? Want to show Kagome the action down at the mall?"  
"Nah," Dumberer said, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "Everybody's still up in Tahoe for the break. Next weekend, maybe."  
I nearly collapsed with relief. The word mall always filled me with a sort of horror, a horror that had nothing to do with demons.  
And I had to admit, i wasnt all that thrilled with being "dropped" somewhere. My god, what was wrong with this place? Why hadn't anyone established a decent bus system yet? Hello! It's the twenty-first century!  
"I know." Dumberer said, slamming his empty glass down. "I'll play you a few games of Cool boarder, Kagome."  
I blinked at him.  
He noticed my blunt expression, especially when it stayed that way.  
"You never heard of Cool boarder? Come on."  
He led me toward the wide screen TV in the den. Cool boarder, it turned out, was a video game. Each player got assigned a snowboarder, and then you raced each other down various slopes using a joystick to control how fast your boarder went and what kind of fancy moves she/he might make.  
I beat Dumberer at it eight times before he finally said, "let's watch a movie instead."  
Sensing that I had probably erred in some way- I guess I should have let the poor boy win at least once- I tried to make amends by volunteering to supply popcorn, and went into the kitchen.  
It was then that a wave of tiredness hit me. There I a three hour time difference between home and Tokyo, so even though it was only nine o'clock, I was tired as if it were midnight. Nobunaga and my mom had retired to the massive master bedroom, but they had left the door to it wide open, I guess so that we wouldn't get any wrong ideas on what they were doing in there. Nobunaga was reading a spy novel, and my mother was watching a made-for-TV movie.  
I wondered, as I stood there, waiting for the popcorn to pop, what my dad thought of all this. He hadn't been too enthused about mom's remarrying, even though, as I've said, Nobunaga is a pretty great guy. He'd been even less enthused about my moving out of the west Coast. "How," he's wanted to know, when I told him, "am I going to pop in on you when you're living three thousand miles away?"  
"The point, dad," I'd said to him, "is that you aren't supposed to be popping in on me. You're supposed to be dead, remember? You're supposed to be doing whatever dead, partially-demon people do, not spying on my and Mom."  
He'd looked sort of hurt by that. "I'm not spying," he'd said, "I'm just checking up. To make sure you're happy, and all of that."  
"Well, I am." I'd assured him. "I'm very happy, and so is mom."  
I'd been lying of course. Not about mom, but about me. I'd been a nervous wreck at the prospect of moving. Even now, I wasn't really sure it was going to work out. This thing with Inuyasha... I mean, where was my dad anyways? Why wasn't he upstairs kicking that guy's butt? Inuyasha was, after all, a boy, and he was in my bedroom, and fathers are supposed to hate that kind of thing....  
But that's the thing about demons... or partial demons. They are never around when you actually need them. Even if they happen to be your dad.  
I guess I most have zoned out for a little while because the next thing I knew, the microwave was dinging. I took the popcorn out an opened the bag. I was pouring it into a big wooden bowl when my mom came into the kitchen and switched on the overhead light.  
"Hi honey," she said. Then she looked at me. "Are you all right, Kagome?" "Sure, mom." I said. I shoveled some popcorn into my mouth. "I'm gonna watch a movie." "Are you sure?" my mother was peering at me curiously. "Are you sure you're all right?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired, is all.  
She looked relieved. "Oh yes. Well, I expected a bit of jet lag. But ... well, it's just that you looked so upset when you first walked into your room. I know the canopy bed was a little much, but I just couldn't resist."  
I chewed. I was totally used to this kind of thing. "The bed's fine mom." I said. "The room's fine, too."  
"I'm so glad," my mom said, pushing a strand of hair from my eyes. "I'm so glad you like, Kagome."  
My mother looked so relieved, I sort of felt sorry for her, in a way. I mean, she's a nice lady and doesn't deserve to have a miko for a daughter. I know I've always been a bit of a disappointment to her. When I turned fourteen, she got me my own phone line, thinking so many boys would be calling me, her friends would never be able to get through. You can imagine how disappointed she was when nobody called except Eri, and then it was usually only to tell me about the dates she'd been on. Like I said, the boys in my neighborhood were never much interested in asking me out.  
My poor mom. She always wanted a nice, normal teenage daughter. Instead she got me.  
"Honey," she said. "Don't you want to change? You've been wearing those same clothes since six o'clock this morning, haven't you?"  
She asked me this right as Dumb was coming in to get more glue for his electrodes. Not that I was going to say anything like, 'well, to tell you the truth, mom, I'd like to change, but I'm not real excited about doing it in front of the hanyou that's living in my room. Instead I shrugged and said, with elaborate casualness, "Yeah, well, I'm gonna change in a bit."  
"Are you sure you don't want help unpacking? I feel terrible, like I should have-" "No, I don't need any help. I'll unpack in a bit." I watched Dumb forage through a drawer. 'I better go," I said. "I don't want to miss the beginning of the movie."  
Of course, in the end, I missed the beginning, middle, and end of the movie. I fell asleep on the couch, and didn't wake up until Nobunaga shook my shoulder a little after eleven. "Up and at'em, kiddo." He said. 'I think its time to admit you've gone down for the count. Don't worry about it though, he won't tell anyone." He glanced at the sleeping figure of Dumberer.  
I got up groggily and made my way to my room. I headed straight for the windows, which I yanked open. To my relief there was no Inuyasha to block the way. Yes. I've still got it.  
I grabbed my duffel nag and went into the bathroom where I showered and, just to be on the safe side- I didn't know for sure whether or not Inuyasha had gotten the message wan vamoosed- changed into my pajamas. When I came out of the bathroom, I was a little more awake. I looked around, feeling the cool breeze seeping in.  
I found, rather to my surprise, that I was alone.  
Really alone. A demon-free zone. Exactly what I'd always wanted.  
I got into bed and clapped my hands, dousing the lights. Then I snuggled deep beneath my crisp new sheets. Just before I fell asleep, I thought I felt a presence in the room- besides myself- and felt like someone was watching me.  
But that, I'm sure, was just my imagination.  
  
A/N: okay. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!  
  
This chapter was boring and really didn't have to do with anything interesting, but oh well... The next chapter is going to be with Kagome going to her new school!!! DUN DUN DUN!!!! 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
My new school, grades K-12, had been made co-educational in the eighties, and had, much to my relief, recently dropped its strict uniform policy. The uniforms had been royal blue and white, not my best colors. Fortunately, the uniforms had been so unpopular that they, like the boys-only rule, had been abandoned, and though the pupils still couldn't wear jeans, they could wear just about anything else they wanted. Since all I wanted was to wear my extensive collection of designer clothing- purchased at various outlet stores back home with Eri as my fashion coordinator- this suited me fine.  
The Buddhist thing, though, was going to be a problem. Not really a problem so much as an inconvenience. You see, my mother never really bothered to raise me in any particular religion. My father was a non- practicing Buddhist, my mother Christian. Religion had never played an important part in either of my parents' lives, and, needless to say, it had only served to confuse me. I mean, you would think I'd have a better grasp on religion than anybody, but the truth is, I haven't the slightest idea what happens to the demons I send off to wherever it is they're supposed to go. All I know is, once I send them there, they do not come back. Not ever. The end.  
So when my mother and I showed up at the administrative office the Monday after my arrival in Tokyo, I was more than a little taken aback to be confronted with a six foot Buddha hanging behind the secretary's desk.  
I shouldn't have been surprised though. My mom had pointed out the school from my room on Sunday morning as she helped me to unpack. "See that big red dome?" she'd said. "That's your school. The dome covers the chapel."  
Now, standing in the cool office of the ancient building, I wondered how many demons I was going to encounter.  
And yet, when my mom and I walked through the school's wide front archway into the courtyard around which the school had been constructed, I didn't see a single person who looked as if he or she didn't belong there. There were a few tourists, a gardener working diligently at the base of a tree, a priest walking in silent contemplation down the airy breezeway. It was a beautiful, restful place- especially for a building that was so old, and had to have seen the years go by.  
I couldn't understand it. Where were all the demons?  
Maybe they were afraid to hang around the place. I was a little afraid, looking up at that giant Buddha. I mean, I've got nothing against religious art, but was it really necessary to portray a Buddha so realistically?  
Apparently I was not alone in thinking so, since a boy who was slumped on a couch across from the one where my mom and I had been instructed to wait noticed the direction of my gaze and said, "he's supposed to weep tears of blood if any girl ever graduates from here a virgin."  
I couldn't help letting out a little bark of laughter. My mother glared at me. The secretary, a plump middle-aged woman who looked as if something like that ought to have offended her deeply only rolled her eyes, and said, tiredly, "Oh, Miroku."  
Miroku, a good-looking boy about my age, looked at me with a perfectly serious face. "It's true," he said gravely. "It happened last year. My sister." He dropped his voice conspiratorially. "She's adopted."  
I laughed again, and my mother frowned at me. She had spent most of yesterday explaining to me that it had been really, really hard to convince the school to take me, especially since she couldn't produce any proof that I'd ever been baptized. In the end, they'd only let me in because of Nobunaga, since all three of his boys went there. I imagine a sizeable donation had also played a part in my admittance, but my mother wouldn't tell me that. All she said was that I had better behave myself, and not hurl anything out of any windows- even though I reminded her that that particular incident hadn't been my fault. I'd been fighting with a particularly violent young demon who'd refused to quit haunting the girls locker room at my old school. Throwing him through that window had certainly gotten his attention, and convinced him to tread the path of righteousness ever after.  
Of course, I'd told my mother that I'd been practicing my tennis swing indoors, and the racket had slipped from my hands- an especially unbelievable story, since a racket was never found.  
It was as I was reliving this painful memory that a heavy wooden door opened, and a priestess came out and said, "Mrs. Higurashi, what a pleasure to see you again. And this must be Kagome. Come in, wont you?" he ushered us into his office, then paused, and said to the boy on the couch, "oh, no, Mr. Houshi. Not on the first day of a brand new semester."  
Miroku shrugged. "What can I say? The broad hates me."  
"Kindly do not refer to Sister Setsuko as a broad, Mr. Hoshi. I will see to you in a moment, after I have spoken with these ladies.  
We went in, and the principal, Mother Kaede- that was her name- sat and chatted with us for a while, asking me how I like Tokyo so far. I said I liked it fine. We had spent most of the day before in Tokyo Square, shopping, after I'd finished unpacking.  
Mother Kaede expressed her sincere hope that I'd be happy at this school, and went on to explain that even though I wasn't a Buddhist, I shouldn't feel unwelcome.  
I thought this was kind of funny, for some reason, but I managed to keep from laughing. Sister Kaede was old, but what'd you probably call spry, and she struck me as sort of queer in her traditional priestess clothing.  
After Mother Kaede had described the various offenses I could get expelled for- skipping class too many times, dealing drugs on campus, the usual stuff- she asked me if I had any questions. I didn't. Then she asked my mother if she had any questions. She didn't. So then Mother Kaede stood up and said, 'fine then. I'll say goodbye to you, Mrs. Higurashi, and walk Kagome to her first class. All right, Kagome?"  
I thought it was kind of weird that the principal, who probably had a lot to do, was taking time out to walk e to my first class, but I didn't say anything about it. I just picked up my coat- a black wool trench by esprit, and waited while she and my mother shook hands. My mom kissed me good-bye, and reminded me to find Dumber at three; since he was in charge of driving me home-only she didn't call him Dumber. Once again, a woeful lack of public transportation meant that I had to bum rides to and from school with my stepbrothers.  
Then she was gone, and Mother Kaede was walking me across the courtyard after having instructed Miroku to wait for her.  
No prob, senorita," was Miroku's response. He leered at me behind the mother's back. It isn't often I get leered at by boys my own age. I hoped he was in my class. My mother's wished for my social life just might be realized at last.  
As we walked, mother Kaede explained a little about the building- or buildings, I should say, walled adobe structures were connected by low ceilinged breezeways, in the middle of which existed the beautiful courtyard. On the other side of the breeze way were stone benches for people to sit on while they enjoyed solitary contemplation of the courtyard's splendor, the doors to the classrooms and steel lockers were built right into the adobe wall. One of those lockers, Mother Kaede explained to me, was mine. She had the combination with her. Did I want to put away my coat?  
I had been surprised when I'd awakened Sunday mornings to find myself shivering in my bed. I'd had to stumble out from beneath the sheets and slam my windows shut. A thick fog, I saw with dismay, had enshrouded the valley, obscuring my view of the bay. I thought for sure some horrible tropical storm had rolled in, but Dumb had explained to me, quite patiently, that morning fog was typical here, and that the passive was named because of its relative lack of storms. The fog, Dumb assured me, would burn off by noon, and it would then be just as hot as it had been they day before.  
And he'd been right. By the time I returned home from shopping, my room had become an oven again, and I'd pried the windows opened again- only to find that they'd been gently shut again when I woke up this morning, which I thought was sweet of my mom, looking out for me like that.  
At least, I hope it was my mom. Now that I think about it... but no, I hadn't seen Inuyasha since that first day I'd moved in. It had definitely been my mom who'd shut my windows.  
Anyway when I'd walked outside to get into Mom's car, I'd found that it was freezing out again, and that was why I was wearing the wool coat.  
Mother Kaede told me that my locker was number 273, and she seemed content to let me find it myself, strolling behind me with her eyes on the breezeway's rafters, in which, much to her professed delight, families of swallows nested every year. She was apparently quite fond of birds- of all animals, actually, since one of the questions she'd asked me was how I was getting along with Buyo, the Higurashi cat- and openly scoffed at Nobunaga's repeated assurances that the timber in the breezeways was going to have to be replaced thanks to the swallows and their refuse.  
268, 269, 270. I strolled down the open corridor watching the numbers on the beige locker doors. Unlike the ones in my school back home, these lockers were not graffities, or dented, or plastered with stickers from heavy metal bands. I guess students here took more pride on their school's appearance than us.  
271, 272. I stumbled to a halt.  
In front of locker 273 stood a demon.  
It wasn't Inuyasha, either. It was a girl, dressed very much like I was, only with long red hair, instead of black, like mine. She also had an extremely unpleasant look on her face.  
"What," she said to me, "are you looking at?"  
Then, speaking to someone behind me, she demanded, "this is whom they let in to take my place? I am so sure."  
Okay I admit it. I freaked out. I spun around, and found myself gaping up at mother Kaede, who was squinting down at me curiously.  
"Ah," she said, when she saw my face. "I thought so."  
  
A/N:  
Next chapter is the 1st confrontation with Ayame and Kagome!  
  
Please REVIEW! 


	6. Chapter 6

I looked from Mother Kaede to the demon girl, and back again. Finally, I managed to blurt out, "You can see her?"  
She nodded. "Yes. I suspected when I first heard your mother speak about you- and your... problems at your old school- that you might be one of us, Kagome. But I couldn't be sure of course, so I didn't say anything. Although the name Higurashi, I'm sure you're aware, if from an ancient Japanese word meaning, "intent listener," which, as a fellow miko, you of course would be..."  
"I barely heard her. I couldn't get over the fact that finally, after all these years; I'd met another miko.  
"So that's why there aren't any demons around here!" I practically yelled. "You took care of them. Jeez, I was wondering what happened to them all. I expected to find hundreds-"  
Mother Kaede bowed her head modestly, and said, "well, there weren't hundreds, exactly, but when I first arrived, there were quite a few. But it was nothing really. I was only doing my duty, after all, making use of the heavenly gift I received from Buddha.  
I made a face. "Is that who's responsible for it?"  
"But of course ours is a gift from Buddha." Mother Kaede looked down at me with that special kind of pity the faithful always bestow upon us poor, pathetic creatures who have doubts. "Where else do you think it could come from?"  
"I don't know. I've always kind of wanted to have a word with the guy in charge, you know? Because, given a choice, I'd much rather not have been blessed with this particular gift.  
Mother Kaede looked surprised. "But why ever not, Kagome?"  
"All it does is get me into trouble. Do you have any idea how many hours I've spent in psychiatrists' offices? My mom's convinced I'm a complete psycho."  
"Yes." Mother Kaede nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I could see how a miraculous gift like ours might be considered by a layperson as- well, unusual."  
"Unusual? Are you kidding me?"  
"I suppose I have been rather sheltered here," Mother Kaede admitted. "It never occurred to me that it must be extremely difficult for those of you out in the, er, trenches, so to speak, with no real ecclesiastical support-"  
"Those of us?" I raised my eyebrows. "You mean there's more than just you and me?"  
She looked surprised. "Well, I just assumed... surely there must be. We can't be the last of our kind. No, no, surely there are others."  
"Excuse me." The demon looked at us very sarcastically. "But would you mind telling me what's going on here? Who is this bitch? Is she the one taking my place?"  
"Hey! Watch your mouth." I shot her a dirty look. "This lady's a priestess you know."  
She sneered at me. "Uh, duh. I know she's a priestess. She'd only been trying to get rid of me all week."  
I glanced at Mother Kaede in surprise, and she said, looking embarrassed, "well, you see, Ayame's being a little obstinate-"  
"If you think," Ayame said, in her snotty little voice, "that I'm going to stand back and let you assign my locker to this bitch-"  
"Call me a bitch one more time missy," I said, "and I'll make sure you spend the rest of eternity inside this locker of yours."  
Ayame looked at me without the slightest trace of fear. "Bitch," she said, stretching the word out so it contained multiple syllables.  
I hit her so fast she never saw it coming. I hit her hard, hard enough to send her reeling into the line of lockers and leave a long, body- shaped dent in them. She landed hard, too, on the stone floor, but was on her feet again a second later. I expected her to strike back at me, but instead, Ayame got up and, with a whimper, ran for all she was worth down the corridor.  
"Huh," I said mostly to myself. "Chicken."  
She'd be back, of course. I'd only startled her. She'd be back. But hopefully when I saw her again, she'd have a slightly improved attitude.  
Ayame gone, I blew my knuckles lightly. Demons have very bony jaws.  
"So," I said. "What were you saying, Mother?"  
Mother Kaede, still staring where Ayame had been standing, remarked, pretty dryly for a priestess, "interesting miko techniques they're teaching out east these days."  
"Hey," I said. "Nobody calls me names and gets away with it. I don't care how tortured her was in his past life. Or hers."  
"I think," Mother Kaede said, thoughtfully, "there are some things we need to discuss, you and I."  
Then she brought a finger to her lips. To one side of us a door opened and a large man, his face heavily bearded, looked out into the breezeway, having heard the crash of Ayame's astral body- funny how much demons can weigh- hitting the row of lockers.  
"Everything all right, Mother?" he asked, when he saw Mother Kaede.  
"Everything's fine, Lark," Mother Kaede said. "Just fine. And look what I've brought you." Mother Kaede placed a hand on my shoulder. "Your newest pupil, Kagome Higurashi. Kagome, meet your new homeroom teacher, Lark Walden."  
I stuck out the hand I'd just knocked Ayame senseless with. "How do you do, Mr. Walden?"  
"Just fine, Miss Higurashi. Just fine." Mr. Walden's hand engulfed mine. He didn't look much like a teacher to me. He looked more like a lumberjack. In fact, he practically had to flatten himself against the wall to give me room to slip past him into his classroom. "Nice to have you with us," he said in his big, booming voice.  
"Thanks, Mother, for bringing her over."  
"Not a problem," mother Kaede said. "We were just having a little difficulty with her locker. You probably heard it. Didn't mean to disturb you. I'll have the custodian look into it. In the meantime, Kagome, I'll expect you back in my office at three, to, um, fill out the rest of those forms."  
I smiled at her sweetly. "Oh, no can do, Mother. My ride leaves at three."  
Mother Kaede scowled at me. "Then I'll send you a pass. Expect one around two."  
"Okay," I said, and waggled my fingers to her. "Buh-bye."  
I guess here you aren't supposed to say buh-bye to the principal, or waggle your fingers at her, since when I turned around to face my new classmates; they were all staring at me with their mouths hanging open.  
Maybe it was my outfit. I had worn a little bit more black that usual, due to nerves. When I doubt, I always say, wear black. You can never go wrong with black.  
Or maybe you can. Because as I looked around at the gaping faces, I didn't see a single black garment in the lot. A lot of white. A few browns, and a heck of a lot of khaki, but no black.  
Oops.  
Mr. Walden didn't seem to notice my discomfort. He introduced me to the class, and made me tell them where I came from. I told them, and they all stared at me blankly. I began to feel sweat pricking the back of my neck. I have to tell you; sometimes I prefer the company of demons to the company of my peers. Sixteen-year-olds can be really scary.  
But Mr. Walden was a good guy. He only made me stand there a minute, under all those stares, and then he told me to take a seat.  
This sounds like a simple thing, right? Just go and take a seat. But you see, there were two seats. One was next to this really pretty tanned girl, with thick, curly honey-blonde hair. The other was way in the back, behind a girl with hair so long, and kept in an ancient Japanese traditional hairstyle, she had to be obsessed with the feudal era.  
No, i am not kidding. A girl who was obsessed with the feudal era.  
Two things influenced my decision. One was that when I saw the seat in the back, I also happened to se that the windows, directly behind that seat, looked out across the school parking lot.  
Okay, not such an inspiring view, you might say.  
The second reason I sat there was simple: I didn't want to take the seat by the tan girl, and have the feudal era girl think I'd done it because I didn't want to near anyone as weird looking as she was. Stupid, right? Like she'd even care what I did. But I didn't even hesitate. I saw the feudal era girl and went for it.  
As soon as I sat down, of course, this girl a few seats away snickered and went, under her breath, but perfectly audibly, "god, sit by the freak, why don't you."  
I looked at her. She had perfectly curled hair and perfectly made-up eyes. I said, not talking under my breath at all, "excuse me, do you have Tourette's?  
Mr. Walden had turned around to write something on the board, but the sound of my voice stopped him. Everybody turned around to look at me, including the girl who'd spoken. She blinked at me, startled. "What?"  
"Tourett's Syndrome," I said. "It's a neurological disorder that causes people to say things they don't really mean. Do you have it?"  
The girl's cheeks had slowly started turning scarlet. "No."  
"Oh," I said. "So you were being purposefully rude."  
"I wasn't calling you a freak," the girl said, quickly.  
"I'm aware of that," I said. "That's why I'm only going to break one of your fingers after school, instead of all of them."  
She spun around real fast to face the front of the classroom. I settled back into my chair. I don't know what everybody started buzzing about after that/ Mr. Walden had to call everyone to order, and when the people ignored him, he slammed his fist down on his desk and told us if we had so damned much to say, we could say it in a thousand word essay on the Pearl Harbor Attack during World War II, double-spaced, and due on his desk first thing tomorrow morning.  
Oh well. Good thing I wasn't in school to make friends.  
  
A/N:  
  
The girl obsessed with the feudal era is.... Sango!  
  
Next chapter, Kagome, Miroku, And Sango eat lunch, and then there's a short introduction to Kouga, Ayame's ex-boyfriend.... 


	7. Chapter 7

And yet I did. Make friends I mean.  
I didn't try to. I didn't even really want to. I mean, I have enough friends back home. I have Eri, the best friend anybody could have. I didn't need any more friends than that.  
And I really didn't think anybody here was going to like me- not after having been assigned a thousand word essay because of what happened when I sat down. And especially not after what happened when we were informed that it was time for second period- there was no bell system at this school, we changed class on the hour, and had five minutes to get to where we were going. No sooner had Mr. Walden dismissed us than the girl obsessed with the feudal era turned around in her seat and asked, her brown eyes glowing furiously. "Am I supposed to be grateful to you, or something, for what you said to Ayumi?"  
"You," I said, standing up, "aren't supposed to be anything, as far as I'm concerned."  
She stood up too. "But that's why you did it, right?" defend the freak? Because you felt sorry for me?"  
"I did it," I said, folding my coat over my arm, "because Ayumi is a troll."  
I saw the corners of her lips twitch. Ayumi had swept up her books and practically run for the door the minute Mr. Walden had dismissed us. She and a bunch of other girls, including the pretty tanned one who'd had the empty seat next to her, were whispering amongst themselves and casting me dirty looks over their Ralph Lauren sweater-draped shoulders.  
I could tell the girl obsessed with the feudal era wanted to laugh at my calling Ayumi a troll, but she wouldn't let herself. She said, fiercely, "I can fight my own battles, you know. I don't need your help."  
I shrugged. "Fine with me."  
She couldn't help smiling then. "It's Sango," she said.  
"What's Sango?"  
"My name. I'm Sango." She stuck out a small, calloused hand, the nails of which were bitted down the quick. "Welcome to Hell."  
At nine o'clock, Mr. Walden had dismissed us. By nine-oh-two, Sango had introduced me to twenty other people, most of whom trotted after me as we moved to our next class, wanting to know what it was like to have lived back home.  
"Is it really," one horsey-looking girl asked, wistfully, "as... as..." she struggled to think of the word she was looking for. "As... metropolitan as they all say?"  
These girls, I probably don't have to add, were no the class lookers. They were not, I saw at once, on speaking terms with the pretty tanned girl and the one whose fingers I'd threatened to break after school, who were the ones so well-turned out in their sweater set and khaki skirts. Oh, no. The girls who came up to me were a motley bunch, some acned, some overweight, or way, way too skinny. I was horrified to see that one was wearing open-toe shoes with reinforced toe pantyhose. Beige pantyhose, too. And white shoes. In January!  
I could see I was going to have my work cut out for me.  
Sango appeared to be the leader of their little pack. Editor of the school paper, which she called "more of a literary review than an actual newspaper," Sango had been in earnest when she'd informed me she did not need me to fight her battles for her. She had plenty of ammunition on her own, including a pretty packed arsenal of verbal zingers and an extremely serious work ethic. Practically the first thing she asked me- after she got over bring mad at me- was if I'd be interested in writing a piece for her paper.  
"Nothing fancy," she said, airily. "Maybe just an essay comparing the East and the West teen culture. I'm sure you must see a lot of differences between us and your friends there. Whaddaya say? My readers would be plenty interested- especially girls like Yuka and Ayumi. Maybe you could slip in something about how in the east, being a tan is like a faux pas."  
Then she laughed, not sounding evil, exactly, but definitely not innocent either. But that, I soon realized, was Sango, all bright smiles- and bouncy good humor. She was as famous, apparently, for her wisecracking as for her big horselaugh, which sometimes bubbled out of her when she couldn't control it, and rang out with unabashed joy, and was inevitably hushed by the prissy novices who acted as hall monitors.  
This school was a small one. There were only seventy sophomores. I was thankful that Dumberer and I had conflicting schedules, so that the only period we shared in common was lunch. Lunch, by the way, was conducted in the schoolyard, which was to one side of the parking lot, with seniors on the same benches as second graders.  
Anyway, Dumber and Dumb shared my lunch period too. That was the only time I saw any of my stepbrothers at school. It was interesting to observe them in their native environment. I was pleased to see that I had been correct in my estimation of their characters. Dumb hung with a crowd of extremely nerdy-looking kids, most of whom wore glasses and actually balanced their laptops on their laps, something I'd never thought was actually done. Dumberer hung with the jocks, around whom flocked, the pretty tanned girls in our class, including the one I'd eschewed sitting beside. Their conversation seemed to consist of what they'd gotten for Christmas, this being their first day back from winter break, and who'd broken the most limbs skiing in Tahoe.  
Dumber was perhaps the most interesting, however. Not that he woke up. Please. But he sat at one of the picnic tables with his eyes closed and his face turned to the sun. Since I can see this as home, this was not what interested me. No, what interested me was what was going on beside Dumber. And that was an incredibly good-looking boy who did nothing but stare straight ahead of him with a look of abject sadness on his face, Occasionally, girls would walk by- as girls will when there is a good- looking boy nearby- and say hi to him, and he's tear his eyes away from wherever he was staring- and say "oh, hi," to them before tuning his gaze again.  
It occurred to me that Dumber and his friend might very well be potheads. I would explain a lot about Dumber.  
But when I asked Sango if she knew who the guy was, and whether or not he had a drug problem, she said, 'oh, that's Kouga Prince. No, he's not on drugs. He's just sad, you know, 'cause his girlfriend died over break."  
"Really?" I chewed on my corn dog. The food service here left a lot to be desired. I could see now why so many kids brought their own. Today's entrée had been hot dogs. I am not kidding. Hot dogs. "How'd she die?"  
"Put a bullet in her brain." Miroku, the kid from the principal's office, had joined us. He was eating Cheetos from a giant bag he'd pulled from a leather backpack. A Louis Vuitton backpack, I might add. "Blew the back of her head away."  
One of the horsey girls turned around, having overheard, and went, "god, Miroku. How cold can you get?"  
Miroku shrugged. "Hey. I didn't like her when she was alive. I'm not gonna say I liked her now just because she's dead. In fact, if anything, I hate her more. I heard we're all going to have to do and hour of prayer for her on Wednesday."  
"Right." Sango looked disgusted. "We have to pray for her immortal soul since she committed suicide and is destined to burn in hell for all eternity now."  
Miroku looked thoughtful, "really? I thought suicides went to Purgatory."  
"No, stupid. Suicide is a mortal sin." Sango rolled her brown eyes.  
The other girls tittered nervously. I waited until they were done and then I asked, 'why'd she kill herself?"  
Miroku looked bored. "Because of Kouga, of course. He broke up with her."  
A pretty black-haired girl named Akira, who towered over the rest of us at six feet, leaned down to whisper, "I heard he did it at the mall. Can you believe it?"  
Another girl said, "yeah, on Christmas Eve. They were Christmas shopping with each other, and she pointed to this diamond ring in the window at Bergdorf's, and was like, 'I want that.' And I guess her freaked- you know, it was clearly an engagement ring0 and broke up with her on the spot."  
"And so she went home and shot herself?" I found this story extremely far-fetched. When I'd asked Sango where we were supposed to have lunch if, god forbid, it should happen to rain, she told me that everyone had to sit in their homeroom and eat, and the nuns brought out board games like Parcheesi for people to play. I was wondering if this story, like the one about rainy day lunches, was an invention. Sango was exactly the kind of girl who would get a kick out of lying to the new kid- not out of maliciousness, but just to amuse herself.  
"Not then," Sango said. "She tried to get back together with him for a while. She called him like every ten minutes, until finally his mother told her not to call anymore. Then she started sending him letters, telling him what she was going to do- you know, kill herself if he didn't respond, she got her dad's forty-four and drove to Kouga's house and rang the bell."  
Miroku took up the narrative at this point, so I knew gore was probably going to be involved. "Yeah, he said, standing up so that he could act it, using a Cheeto as the gun. "The Princes' were having a New Year's party- it was New Year's Eve- so they were home and everything. They opened up the door, and there was this crazy girl on their porch, with a gun to her head. She said if they didn't get Kouga, she was going to pull the trigger. But they couldn't get Kouga cause they'd sent him away-"  
  
"- Hoping a little sun and surf would soothe his frazzled nerves," Sango put in, "because, you know, he's got his college apps to worry about right now. He doesn't need to have the added pressure of a stalker."  
Miroku glared at her, and went on, holding the cheeto to the side of his head. "Yeah, well, that was a gross error on the part of the Princes'. As soon as she heard Kouga was out of the country, she pulled the trigger, and blew out the back of her skull, and bits of her brain and stuff stuck to the Christmas lights the Princes' had strung up."  
Everyone but me groaned at this particular detail. I had other things on my mind however. "The empty chair in homeroom. The one by what's-her- name- Ayumi. That was the dead girl's seat, wasn't it?"  
Akira nodded. "Yeah. That's why we thought it was so weird when you walked past it. It was like you knew that that was where Ayame had sat. We all thought maybe you were psychic or something-"  
I didn't bother telling them the reason I hadn't sat in Ayame's seat had nothing whatsoever to do with being psychic. I didn't say anything, actually. I was thinking, 'gee mom, nice of you to tell me why there was suddenly this space for me, when before the school had been too crowded to let in another new student.'  
I stared at Kouga. He was tanned from his trip. He sat on the picnic table with his feet on the bench, his elbows on his knees, staring out into space. A gentle wind tugged at some of his ebony-colored hair.  
He has no idea, I thought. He has no idea at all. He thinks his life was bad now? Just wait.  
Just wait.  
  
A/N:  
  
Ok well if this chapter was confusing I'm sorry. Ayame is part demon, ya see. Because if she was a full demon Kouga couldn't have had dated her, cause, well, because he couldn't even see her. And that would kinda make thing hard, you know?  
And then just like Kagome's dad, Ayame's dead, but since she's part demon, Kagome can see her...  
That's the easiest way I can explain it....  
  
The next chapter- Ayame DOES try to kill Kouga, but Kagome manages to save him. And that's when the classic "Kouga" comes in, and well... we all know how he feels about Kagome. 


	8. Chapter 8

He didn't have to wait long. In fact, it was right after lunch that she same after him. Not that he ever knew it, of course. I spotted her immediately in the crowd as everybody headed toward their lockers. Demons have a sort of glob about them that sets them apart from humans- than god, too, or half the time I might never have known the difference.  
Anyway, there she was staring daggers at him like one of those blond kids out of Village of the Damned. People, not knowing she was there, kept walking straight through her. I sort of envied them. I wish ghosts were invisible to me like they were to everybody else. I know that would mean I wouldn't have been able to enjoy my dad's company these past few years, but, hey, it also would have meant I wouldn't be standing there knowing Ayame was about to do something horrible.  
Not that I knew what it was she planned on doing to him. Demons can get pretty rough sometimes. The trick Inuyasha had done with the mirror was nothing, really. I've had objects thrown at me with enough force that, if I hadn't ducked, I'd certainly be one with the spirit world. I've had concussions and broken bones galore. My mom just thinks I'm accident-prone. Yeah, mom. That's right. I broke my wrist falling down the stairs. Oh, and the reason I fell down the stairs is that a demon conquistador pushed me.  
The minute I saw Ayame, though, I knew she was up to no good. I was not basing this assumption on my previous interaction with her. Oh, no. See, I followed the direction of Ayame's gaze, and saw that it wasn't Kouga, exactly, that she was staring at. It was actually one of the rafters in the section of breezeway beneath which Kouga was walking that had attracted her attention. And as I stood there, I saw the timber start to shake. Not the whole breezeway. Oh no. Just one single, heavy piece. The piece directly above Kouga's head.  
I acted without thought. I threw myself as hard as I could at Kouga. We both went flying. And good thing too. Because we were still rolling when I heard an enormous explosion. I ducked my head to shield my eyes, so I didn't actually see the piece of timber explode. But I heard it. And I felt it too. Those tiny splinters of wood hurt as they pelted me. Good thing I was wearing wool slacks, too.  
Kouga lay so still beneath me that I thought maybe a chunk of wood had got him between the frontal lobes or something. But when I lifted my face from his chest, I saw that he was okay- he was just staring, horrified, at the ten-inch-thick plank of wood, nearly two feet long, that lay a few feet away from us. All around us were scattered shards of wood that had broken off the main piece. I guess Kouga was realizing that if that plank had succeeded in splintering his cranium, there'd have been little pieces of Kouga scattered all around that stone floor, too.  
"Excuse me. Excuse me-"I heard Mother Kaede's strained voice, and saw her push through the crowd of stunned onlookers. She froze when she saw the chunk of wood, but when her gaze took in Kouga and me, she sprung into action again.  
"Good Buddha," she cried, hurrying toward us. "Are you children all right? Kagome, are you hurt? Kouga?"  
I sat up slowly. I frequently have to check for broken bones, and have found, over the years, the slower you get up, the more chance you have at discovering what's broken, and the less chance there is you'll put weight on it.  
But in this particular case, nothing seemed broken. I got to my feet.  
"Good gracious," Mother Kaede was saying. "Are you sure you're all right?"  
"I'm fine," I said, brushing myself off. There were little pieces of wood all over me. And this was my best Donna Karan jacket. I looked around for Ayame- really, if I'd have found her at that particular moment, I'd have killed her, I really would have... except, of course, that she's already dead AND part demon. But she was gone.  
"God," Kouga said, coming up to me. He didn't look hurt, just shaken up a little. Actually, it would have been hard to hurt a guy as big as he was. He was six feet tall and broad shouldered, a genuine Baldwin.  
And he was talking to me. Me!  
"God, are you okay?" he wanted to know. "Thank you. God. I think you must have saved my life."  
"Oh," I said. "It was nothing, really." I couldn't resist reaching out and plucking a splinter of wood from his sweater vest. Cashmere. Just as I'd suspected.  
"What is going on here?" a tall guy in a lot of robes with a red beanie on his head came pushing through the crowd. When he saw the wood on the ground, then looked up to take in the gaping hole where it was supposed to be, he turned on Mother Kaede and said, "see? See this is what comes of you letting your precious birds nest wherever they want. Mr. Higurashi warned us this might happen, and look! He was right! Somebody might have been killed!"  
"I'm so sorry," Mother Kaede said. I can't think how such a good thing could have happened. Thank havens no one was hurt." She turned to Kouga and me. "You two ARE all right? You know, I think Miss Higurashi looks a little pale. I'll just take her off to see the nurse, if that's all right with you, Kagome. The rest of you children get on to class now. Everyone is all right. It was just an accident. Run along now."  
Amazingly, people did as he said. Mother Kaede had that kind of way about her. You just sort of had to do what she said. Thank god she used her powers for good instead of evil!  
Once we were safely behind the closed door to the principal's office, Mother Kaede went straight across the room to a small cabinet in which there were a number of trophies and plaques- teaching awards, I found out later. Before she'd been reassigned by the diocese to an administrative position, mother Kaede had been a popular and much-loved teacher of biology. She reached behind one of the awards and drew out a packet of cigarettes.  
She looked down longingly at the pack for a minute more, then heaved this big sigh, and put them back where she'd found them. "No," she said, more to herself. "I shouldn't."  
I thought I'd better change the subject, so I stooped to examine some of the teaching awards.  
"1964," I said. "You've been around for awhile."  
"I have." Mother Kaede sat down behind her desk. "What in heavens name happened out there, Kagome?"  
"Oh," I shrugged. 'That was just Ayame. I guess we know now why she's sticking around. She wants to kill Kouga Prince."  
Mother Kaede shook her head. "This is terrible. It really is. I've never seen such... such violence from a spirit. Never, not in all my years as a miko."  
"Really?" I looked out the window. The principal's office looked toward the hills where I lived. "Hey," I said. "You can see my house from here!"  
"And she was always such a sweet girl too. We never had a disciplinary problem from Ayame, not in all her years here. What could be causing her to feel so much hatred for a young man she professed to love?"  
I glanced at her over my shoulder. "Are you kidding me?"  
"Yes, well, I know they broke up, but such extreme emotions- this killing rage she's in. surely that's quite unusual-"  
I shook my head. "Excuse me, I know you took a vow of celibacy and all, but haven't you ever been in love? Don't you know what its like? That guy hosed her. She thought they were going to get married. I know that was stupid, especially since she's only what, sixteen? Still, he just hosed her. If that's not enough to inspire a killing rage in a girl, I don't know what it."  
She studied me thoughtfully. "You're speaking from experience."  
"Who me? Not quite. I mean, I've had crushes on guys, and stuff, but I can't say any of them have ever returned the favor." Much to my chagrin. "Still, I can imagine how Ayame must have felt when he broke up with her."  
"Like killing herself, I suppose." Mother Kaede said.  
"Exactly. But killing herself didn't turn out to be enough. She won't be satisfied until she takes him down with her."  
"This is dreadful," mother Kaede said. "Really, really dreadful. I've talked with her until I was blue in the face, and she wont listen. And now, the first day back, this happens. I'm going to have to advise that young man to stay home until we can get this resolved."  
I laughed. "How are you going to do that? Tell him his dead- partially demon- girlfriend's trying to kill him? Oh, yeah, that'll go over well."  
"Not at all." Mother Kaede opened a drawer, and started rifling through it. "With a little ingenuity, I can see that Mr. Prince is out for a solid week or two."  
"Oh, no way!" I felt myself go pale. "You're going to poison him? I thought you were a priestess! Isn't there a rule against that sort of thing?"  
"Poison? No, no, Kagome. I was thinking of giving him head lice. The nurse checks for them once a semester. I'll just see that young Mr. Prince comes down with a bad case of them-"  
"Oh my god!" I shrieked. "That's disgusting! You can't put lice in that guy's hair!"  
Mother Kaede looked up from her drawer. "Why ever not? It will serve our purposes exactly. Keep him out of harm's way long enough for you and I to talk some sense into Miss Ayame and-"  
"You can't put lice in that guy's hair." I said again, more vehemently than was, perhaps, necessary. I don't know why I was so against the idea, except that... well, he had such nice hair. I'd gotten a pretty close look at it when we'd been sprawled on the ground together. It was curly, soft-looking hair, the kind of hair I could picture myself running my fingers through. The thought of bugs crawling around in it turned my stomach, how did that kid's rhyme go?  
  
You gazed into my eyes  
What could I do but linger?  
I ran my hands all through your hair  
And a cootie bit my finger  
  
"Aw, jeez," I said, sitting down on top of the desk. "Hold the lice, will you? Let me deal with Ayame. You say you've been talking to her for how long, now? A week?"  
"Since the New Year," said Mother Kaede. "Yes. That's when she first showed up here. I can see now she's just been waiting for Kouga."  
"Right. Well let me take care of it. Maybe she just needs a little does of girl talk."  
"I don't know." Mother Kaede regarded me a little dubiously. "I really feel that you have a bit of a propensity toward... well, toward the physical. The role of a miko is supposed to be a nonviolent one, Kagome. You are supposed to be someone who helps troubled spirits, not hurts them."  
"Hello? Were you out there just now? You think I was supposed to stand there and talk that beam into not crushing that guy's skull?"  
"Of course not. I'm just saying that if you tried a little compassion- "  
"Hey. I have plenty of compassion, Mother. My heart bleeds for this girl, it really does. But this is my school. Got it? Mine. Not hers, not anymore. She made her decision, and now she's got to stick with it. And I'm not letting her take Kouga- or anyone else- down with her."  
"Well." Mother Kaede looked skeptical. 'Well, if you're sure..."  
"Oh, I'm sure." I hopped off her desk. "Just leave it o me, all right?"  
Mother Kaede said, "all right." But she said it kind of faintly, I noticed. I had to get her to write me a hall pass so I could get back to class without getting busted by one of the priestesses. I was waiting for one of them- a pinch-faced novice- to finish scrutinizing this pass before she'd let me go on down the corridor when a side door marked NURSE opened, and out stepped Kouga with a hall pass of his own.  
  
"Hey," I could help blurting out. "What happened? Did she- I mean, did something else happen? Are you hurt?"  
He grinned a bit sheepishly. "No. Well, unless you count this wicked splinter I got under my thumbnail. I was trying to brush all those little pieces of wood off my pants, you know, and one of them got under there, and- "He held up his right hand. A large bandage had been wrapped around his thumb. "Yikes," I said.  
"I know." He looked mournful. "She used curochrome, too. I hate that stuff."  
"Man," I said. "You have had a rotten day."  
"Not really," he said, putting his thumb down. "At least not as bad as it would have been if you hadn't been here. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead." He noticed that I'd come through the door marked PRINCIPAL and asked, "did you get in trouble, or something?"  
"No." I said. "Mother Kaede just wanted me to fill out some forms. I'm new, you know."  
"And as a new student," the novice said severely, "you ought to be made aware that loitering in the halls is not allowed. Both of you had better get to your classes." I apologized and took back my pass. Kouga very chivalrously offered to show me where my next class was, and the novice went away, seemingly satisfied. As soon as she was out of earshot, Kouga said, "you're Kagome right? I've heard about you. You're the one who dissed Ayumi."  
"That's me," I said. "And you're Kouga Prince." "Oh, you've heard of me?"  
He said "oh," in such a said voice I almost felt sorry for him. "I guess people must be talking about me huh?"  
"A little." I took the plunge. "I'm sorry about what happened with your girlfriend."  
"So am I, believe me." If he was mad I'd brought the subject up, you couldn't tell. "I didn't even want to come back here after... you know. I tried to transfer but the public schools didn't want me. Its tough to transfer with only one semester to go. I wouldn't have come back at all except that... well you know. Colleges generally want you to have graduated from high school before they'll let you in."  
I laughed. "I've heard that."  
"Anyway." Kouga noticed I was holding my coat- I'd been dragging it around all day since I couldn't use my locker, the door having been dented permanently shut when I'd knocked Ayame into it- and said, "want me to carry that for you?"  
I was so shocked by this civility that without even thinking I said, 'sure," and passed it over to him. He folded it over one arm, and said, "so, I guess everybody must be blaming me for what happened. To Ayame I mean."  
"I don't think so," I said. "If anything, people are blaming Ayame for what happened to Ayame."  
"Yeah," Kouga said, "but I mean, I drove her to it, you know? That's the thing. If I just hadn't broken up with her-"  
"You have a pretty high opinion of yourself, don't you?"  
He looked taken aback. "What?"  
"Well, your assumption that she killed herself was because you broke up with her. I don't think that's why she killed herself at all. She killed herself because she was sick. You had nothing to do with making her that way. Your breaking up with her may have acted as a sort of catalyst for her final breakdown, but it could just easily have been some other crisis in her life- her parents getting divorced, her not making the cheerleading squad, her cat dying. Anything. So try not to be so hard on yourself." We were at the door to my classroom- geometry, I think it was. I turned to him and took my coat back. "Well, this is my stop. Thanks for the lift."  
He held onto one sleeve of my coat. "Hey," he said looking down at me. It was hard to see his eyes- it was pretty much dark beneath the breezeway, shadowed as it was from the sun. But I remembered from when we'd fallen down together that his eyes were blue. A really nice blue. "Hey, listen," he said. "Let me take you out tonight. To thank you for saving my life and everything."  
"Thanks," I said, giving my coat a tug. "But I already have plans." I didn't ass that my plans involved him in a most intimate manner.  
"Tomorrow night, then," he said, still not relinquishing my coat.  
"Look," I said. "I'm not allowed to go out on school nights."  
This was patently untrue. Except for the fact that the police have brought me home a few times, my mother trusted me implicitly. If I wanted to go out with a boy on a school night, she'd have let me. The thing is, the subject had never really come up, no boy ever having offered to take me out, on a school night or any other for that matter.  
But now I had a chance to start all over, with a new population of boys who had no idea about my past- well, except for Dumber and Dumberer and I doubted they would tell since neither of them are what you'd call... well, verbal.  
Neither of them had evidently gotten to Kouga, anyway, since the next words out of his mouth were, "this weekend, then. What are you doing Saturday night?"  
I wasn't sure it was such a good idea to get involved with a guy whose dead –partially demon- girlfriend was trying to kill him. I mean, what if she found out and resented me for it? I was sure Mother Kaede would think it was very cool, me going out with Kouga.  
Then again, how often did a totally hot guy like Kouga Prince ask a girl like me out?  
"Okay," I said. "Saturday is it. Pick me up at seven?"  
He grinned. He had very nice teeth, white and even. "Seven," he said, letting go of my coat. "See you then. If not before."  
"See you then." I stood with my hand on the door to geometry class. "Oh, and Kouga?"  
He had started down the breezeway, toward his own classroom. "Yeah?"  
"Watch your back,"  
I think he winked at me, but it was kind of hard to tell in the shade.  
  
A/N:  
  
Kouga sounds kind of like Hojo doesn't he??? Oh well, I have plans for an evil Hojo sometime, so I'll save it for later. For now it's just a real nice Kouga that doesn't kidnap Kagome when he first sees her.... Plus the whole Ayame story...  
  
All right, well, Lataz! 


	9. Chapter 9

When I climbed into the rambler at the end of the day, Dumb was all over me. "Everybody's talking about it!" he cried, bouncing up and down on the seat. "Everybody saw it! You saved that guy's life! You saved Kouga Prince's life!"  
"I didn't save his life," I said, calmly twisting the rear view mirror so I could see how my hair looked. Perfect. Saving a guy from his dead- partially demon, too- girlfriend totally agrees with my hair.  
"You did so. I saw that big chunk of wood. If that's landed on his head, it've killed him! You saved him, Kagome. You really did."  
"Well." I rubbed a little gloss into my lips. "Maybe."  
"God, you've only been here one ay, and already you're the most popular girl in school!"  
Dumb was completely unable to contain himself. Sometimes I wondered whether Ritalin might have been the answer. Not that I didn't like the kid. In fact, I liked him best out of all of Nobunaga's boys- which I realize is not saying much, but it's all I've got. It had been Dumb who, just the night before, had come to me while I'd been trying to decide what to wear my first day at school and asked me, his face very pale, if I was sure I didn't want to trade bedrooms with him.  
I'd looked at him like he was nuts. Dumb had a nice room, and everything, but please. Give up my private bath? No way. Not even if it meant ridding myself of my unwanted roommate, Inuyasha, whom I hadn't actually heard from since I'd told him to get the hell out. "What on earth makes you think I'd want to give up my room?" I asked him.  
Dumb shrugged. "Just that... well, this room's kinda creepy, don't you think?"  
I stared at him. You should have seen my room just then. With the bedside lamp on, casting a cheerful pink glow over everything, and my CD player belting out Janet Jackson- loud enough that my mother had shouted twice for me to turn it down- even though she was in a completely different building. Creepy was the last thing anyone would have called my room. "Creepy?" I echoed, looking around. No sign of Inuyasha. No sign of anything at all undead. We were quite firmly in the realm of humans. "What's creepy about it?"  
Dumb pursed his lips. "Don't tell dad," he said, "but I've been doing a lot of research into this house, and I've come to the conclusion- quite a definitive one- that it's haunted."  
I blinked at his freckled face, and saw that he was serious. Quite serious, as his next remark proved.  
"Although modern scientists have, for the most part, debunked the majority of claims of paranormal activity in this country, there is still ample evidence that unexplained spectral phenomena exists in our world. My own personal investigation of this house was unsatisfactory insofar as traditional indication of a demonical presence, such as the so-called cold spot. But there was nevertheless a very definite fluctuation of temperature in this room, Kagome, leading me to believe that it was probably the scene of at least one incidence of great violence- perhaps even a murder- and that some remnant of the victim- still lurks here, perhaps in the vain hope of gaining justice for his untimely death."  
I leaned against one of the posts of my bed frame. I had to, or I might have fallen down. "Gee," I said, keeping my voice steady with an effort. "Way to make a girl feel welcome."  
Dumb looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he said, the tips of his sticky- outy ears turning red. "I shouldn't have said anything. I did mention it to my brothers, and they told me I was nuts. I probably am." He swallowed bravely. "But I feel it's my duty as a man, to offer to trade rooms with you. You see, I'm not afraid."  
I smiled at him, my shock forgotten in a sudden rush of affection for him. I was really touched. You could see the offer had taken all the guts the little guy had. He really and truly believed my room was haunted, in spite of everything that science told him, and yet he'd been willing to sacrifice himself for my sake, out of some sort of inborn chivalry. You had to like the little guy. You really did.  
"That's okay, Dumb." I said, forgetting myself in a sudden burst of sentimentality and calling him by my own private nickname for him. "I think I can pretty much handle any personal phenomena that might occur around here."  
He didn't seem to mind the new nickname, though. He said, obviously relieved, "well if you really don't mind"-  
  
"No it's okay. But let me ask you something." I lowered my voice, just in case Inuyasha was lurking around somewhere. "In all of your extensive research, did you ever come across the name of this poor slob that's inhabiting my room?"  
Dumb shook his head. "Actually, I'm sure I could get it for you, if you really want it. I can look it up down at the library. They have all the newspapers ever printed in the area since the first press started running, shortly before this house was built. It's on microfiche, but I'm sure if I spend enough time looking"-  
It seemed kind of wacky to me, some kid spending all his time in a dark library basement looking at microfiche, when a block or two away was a playground where kids his age were. But hey, to each his own, right?"  
"Cool," was all I said, however.  
  
Now I could see that Dumb's little crush on me was threatening to get blown all out of proportion. First I'd willingly volunteered to abide in a room rumored to be haunted, and then I'd gone and saved Kouga's life. What was I going to do next? Run a three-minute mile?  
"Look," I said, as Dumber struggled with the ignition, which apparently had a tendency not to work on the first try. "I just did what any of you would have done if you'd been standing nearby."  
"All of you shut up," Dumber said with uncharacteristic grumpiness. "Ill never get this damned car started if you all don't keep distracting me. Nika, stop hitting Shippo, Shippo stop yelling in my ear, and Kagome, if you don't move your big head out the mirror I'll never be able to see where the hell we're going. Damn. I can't wait till I get that Camaro!"  
  
The phone call came after dinner. My mother had to scream up the stairs at me because I had my headphones on. Even though it was only the first day of the new semester, I had a lot of homework to do, especially in Geometry. We'd only been on chapter seven back in my old school. But here, sophomores were already on Chapter twelve. I knew I was pretty much dead meat if I didn't start trying to catch up.  
When I came downstairs to pick up the phone, my mom was already so mad at me for making her scream- she has to watch her vocal chords for her job and everything- that she wouldn't tell me who it was. I picked up the receiver and went, "hello?"  
There was a pause, and then Mother Kaede's voice came on. "Hello?" Kagome? Is that you? Look, I'm sorry to bother you at home, but I've been giving this some thought and I really think- yes, I really do think we need to do something right away. I can't stop thinking about what might have happened to poor Kouga if you hadn't been there."  
I looked over my shoulder. Dumberer was playing Cool Boarders- with his dad, the only person in the house who let him win- my mom was working on her computer, Dumber was out subbing for some pizza deliverer who'd called in sick, and Dumb was sitting at the dining room table working on a science project that wasn't due until April.  
"Uh," I said. "Look. I can't really talk right now."  
"I realize that," Mother Kaede said. "And don't worry- I had one of the novices ask for you. Your mother thinks it's just some new little friend you've made at school. But the thing of it is, Kagome, we've got to so something, and I think it had better be tonight"-  
"Look," I said. "Don't worry about it. I've got it under control."  
Mother Kaede sounded surprised. "You do? You do? Ho? How have you got it under control?"  
"Never mind. But I've done this before. Everything will be fine. I promise."  
"Yes, well, it's all very well to promise everything will be fine, but I've seen you at work, Kagome, and I cant say I've been very impressed with your technique."  
The call waiting went off. I said, "Oh hang on a sec. I've got another call." I hit the hook and went, "Higurashi residence."  
"Kagome?" a boy's voice, unrecognizable to me.  
"Yes..."  
"Oh ho. It's Kouga. So. What's going on?"  
I looked at my mother. She was scowling into the story she was working on. "Um," I said. "Nothing much. Can you hold on a second, Kouga? I've got someone on the other line."  
"Sure," Kouga said.  
I switched back to Mother Kaede. "Uh, hi," I said, careful not to say her name. "I gotta go. My mother has a very important caller on the other line. A senator. State senator." I was probably going to go to hell for it- if there was such a place- but I couldn't very well tell Mother Kaede the truth: that I was dating Ayame's exboyfriend.  
"Oh, of course," Mother Kaede said. "I- well, if you have a plan."  
"I do. Don't worry. Bye." I hung up and got back to Kouga. "Uh, hi. Sorry about that. What's up?"  
"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about you. What do you want to do on Saturday? I mean, so you want to go to dinner, or to a movie, or both, maybe?"  
The other line went off. I said, "Kouga, I'm really sorry it's a zoo here, could you hang on a minute? Thanks. Hello?"  
A girl's voice I'd never heard before said, "oh, hi, is this Kagome?"  
"Speaking," I said.  
"Oh hi, Kagome. It's Ayumi from your homeroom? Listen, I just wanted to let you know- what you did today for Kouga- that was so Righteous. I mean, I have never in my life seen anything so brave. They should totally put you on the news, or something. Anyway, I'm having a little get-together at my place this Saturday- nothing much, just a pool party, my folks'll be out of town, and our pool's heated, of course- so I thought, if you wanted, maybe you could just stop by."  
I stood there, holding the phone, totally stunned. Ayumi, the richest, most beautiful girl in the entire sophomore class was inviting me to a pool part on the same night I was going out on a date with the sexiest boy in school. Who happened to be on the other line.  
"Yeah, sure, Ayumi," I said. "I'd love to. Does Nika know where it is?"  
"Nika?" Ayumi said. Then, "oh, Nika. That's right, he's your half brother or something, right? Oh, yeah, bring him. Listen"-  
"I'd love to chat, Ayumi, but I got somebody on the other line. Can I talk to you about it tomorrow in school?"  
"Oh, totally. Bye."  
I clicked back to Kouga asked him to hold on another second, put my hand over the mouth piece and yelled, "Nika, pool party at Ayumi's this Saturday. Be there or be square."  
Nika dropped his joystick. "No way!" he yelled, joyfully. "No freakin' way!"  
"Hey!" Nobunaga rapped him on the head. "Watch the language."  
I got back on with Kouga. "Dinner would be great," I said. "Anything but health food."  
Kouga went, "great! Yeah, I hate health food, too. There's nothing like a really good piece of meat, you know, with some fries on the side, and some gravy"-  
"Uh, yeah, right, Kouga. Listen, that's my call waiting again, I'm really sorry, but I have to go, okay? I'll talk to you tomorrow in school."  
"Oh. Okay." Kouga sounded taken aback. I guess I was the first girl who'd ever answered her call waiting when he was on the line. "By, Kagome. And, uh thanks again."  
"No problem. Anytime." I hit the receiver. "Hello?"  
"Kagome!! It's Sango!"  
In the background I heard Miroku yell, "an me, too!"  
"Hey girlfriend," Sango said, we're heading down to the Clutch. Want us to pick you up? Miroku just got his license."  
"I'm legal!" Miroku shouted into the phone.  
"The Clutch?"  
"Yeah, the Coffee Clutch, downtown. You drink coffee, don't you?"  
I had to think about that one. "Uh, yeah. The thing is- I sort of have something I have to do."  
"Oh, come on. What do you have to do? Wash your cape? I mean, I know you're a big here and all of that, and probably don't have time for us little people, but"-  
"I haven't finished my thousand word essay on Pearl harbor for Mr. Walden," I said. "And I've got a lot of geometry to do if I'm going to catch up to you geniuses."  
"Oh, god," Sango said. "All right, but you have to promise to sit by us at lunch tomorrow. We want to hear all about how you pressed your body up against Kouga's and what it felt like and all that stuff."  
"I don't!" Miroku declared, sounding horrified.  
"Okay," Sango said. "So I want to hear all about it."  
I assured her I'd spare no detail and hung up. Then I looked down at the phone. To my relief, it did not ring again. I couldn't quite believe it. Never in my life had I been so popular. It was weird.  
I had lied about my homework, of course. The essay was done, and I had worked through two chapters of geometry- about all I could handle in one night. The truth, of course, was that I had an errand to run, and I had a bit of preparation to do for it.  
You don't need a whole lot of tools for my job. I mean, all that stuff about prayer beads and sacred water, I guess you need those things to kill a vampire- and I can tell you right now that I have never in my life met a vampire, and I've spent a lot of time in graveyards- but for demons, well, you sort of have to wing it.  
Sometimes though, to get the job done right, you have to do a little breaking and entering. For that you need some tools. I highly recommend just using stuff you find on site because then you don't have a lot to carry. But I do have a tool belt with a flashlight and some screwdrivers and pliers and stuff, which I wear over a pair of black leggings. I was fastening this on at around midnight, satisfied that everyone in the house was asleep- including Dumber, who was back from his pizza round by then- and had just shrugged into my motorcycle jacket when I got a visit from good old you-know-who.  
"Jeez," I said, when I caught a glimpse of his reflection behind mine in the mirror into which I was primping, I swear, I've been seeing demons for years, but it still freaks me out every time one of them just appears in front of me. I spun around, angry not so much that he was there, but because he's managed to catch me so unaware. "Why are you still hanging around? I though I told you to get lost."  
Inuyasha was leaning very casually against one of the posts to my bed. His light-eyes gaze roved from the top of my hooded head to the toes of my black high-tops. "It's a little late to be going out don't you think, Kagome?" he asked as conversationally as if we'd been in the middle of a discussion.  
"Uh," I said, pulling the hood back. "Look, no offense, Inuyasha, but this is my room. How about you try getting out of it? And my business too, please?"  
Inuyasha didn't move. "Your mother wont like your going out so late at night."  
"My mother." I glared at him. Up at him, I should say. He was really disconcertingly tall for some demons. "What would you know about my mother?"  
"I like your mother very much," Inuyasha said calmly. "She is a good woman. You are very lucky to have a mother who loves you so very much. It would upset her, I think, to see you putting your self in the path of danger."  
The path of danger. Right! "Yeah, well, news flash, Inuyasha. I've been sneaking out at night for a long time, and my mom's never said boo about it before. She knows I can take care of myself."  
Okay, a lie, but hey, how was he to know?  
"Can you?" Inuyasha lifted a black eyebrow dubiously. I couldn't help noticing that there was a raised scar sliced through the middle of that eyebrow, like someone had taken a swipe at Inuyasha's face once with a knife. I sort of understood the feeling. Especially when he let out a chuckle, and said, "I don't think so, aisuru. Not in this case."  
I held up both my hands. "Okay number one, cont call me stuff in ancient Japanese. Number two, you don't even know where I'm going, so I suggest you just get off my back."  
"But I do know where you're going, Kagome. You are going down to the school to talk to the girl who is trying to kill that boy, that boy you seem... fond of. But I'm telling you, aisuru, she is too much for you to handle alone. If you must go, you ought to have the priestess with you."  
I stared at him. I had a feeling my eyes were probably bugging out, but I really couldn't believe it. "What?" I sputtered. "How could you know all that? Are you... are you stalking me?"  
He must have realized from my expression that he'd said the wrong thing, since he straightened up and said, "I don't know what that word means, stalking. All I know is that you are walking into harm's way."  
"You've been following me," I said, stabbing a finger at him accusingly. "Haven't you? God, Inuyasha, I already have an older brother, thank you very much. I don't need you going around spying"-  
"Oh yes," Inuyasha said, very sarcastically. "This brother cares for you very much. Almost as much as he cares about his sleep."  
"Hey!" I said, coming, against all odds, to Dumber's defense. "He works nights okay? He's saving up for a Camaro!"  
Inuyasha made what I' quite sure was a rude gesture back in his time. "You," he said, "aren't going anywhere."  
"Oh, yeah?" I turned heel and stormed toward the door. "Try and stop me, cadaver breath."  
He did a good job. My hand was on the doorknob when the deadbolt slid into place. I hadn't even realized before that there was a deadbolt on my door- it must have been an ancient one. The handle to it was gone, and god only knew, the key must have long since been lost.  
I stood there for half a minute, staring down at my hand in wonder as it pulled futilely on the knob. Then I took a deep cleansing breath, the way my mom's therapist had suggested.  
"Okay," I said, turning around. "Inuyasha. This is way uncool."  
Inuyasha looked pretty uncomfortable. I could tell as soon as I looked at him that he wasn't very happy with what he'd done. Whatever had gotten him killed in his original demonic state wasn't because he was innately cruel, or enjoyed hurting people. He was a good guy. Or at least he was trying to be.  
"I can't," he said in front of me. "Kagome. Don't go. This woman- this girl, Ayame. She isn't like other spirits you might have known in the past. She's filled with hate. She'll kill you if she can."  
I smiled at him encouragingly. "Then it's up to me to get rid of her right? Come on. Unlock the door now."  
He hesitated. For a second, I thought he was going to do it. But he didn't, in the end. He just stood there, looking uncomfortable... but firm.  
"Suit yourself," I said, and walked around him, straight across the room to the bay window. I put a foot onto the seat Nobunaga had made, and easily lifted the screen in the middle window. I had one leg over the sill when I felt his hand go around my wrist.  
I turned to look at him. I couldn't see his face since the light from my bedside lamp was behind him, but I could hear his voice well enough and the soft pleading in it.  
"Kagome," he said.  
And that was all. Just my name.  
I didn't say anything. I couldn't, sort of. I mean, I could- it wasn't like there was a lump in my throat or anything. I just... I don't know.  
Instead, I looked down at his hand, which was really big and kind of brown, even against the black leather of my jacket. He had a heck of a grip.  
He saw my gaze drop, and looked where I was looking, and saw his hand tight around my wrist.  
He let go of me as if my skin had suddenly started to blister, or something. I finished climbing out the window. When I had successfully maneuvered my way across the porch room and down to the ground, I turned to look up at my bedroom window.  
But he was gone of course.  
  
A/N:  
  
Okay, I notice the many, many grammatical errors in the last two chapters, and maybe even in this one, so I'm sorry!!! I mean I even put the word "ass" instead of something else, so I thought that was pretty funny!  
I've decided to make Dumb, Shippo now. He acts like Shippo, so why not?  
  
Dumb- Shippo Dumber- Akito Dumberer- Nika  
  
Aisuru- sweetheart  
  
Well I have to get going to track practice, so I'm gonna make this quick.  
  
It'll take about two chapters to explain how Ayame gets "put to rest" or whatever. So... it might be a while. My hands are pretty much dead from updating every five seconds!!!!  
  
Please Review!!! 


	10. Chapter 10

It was a cool clear night. The moon was full. Standing in my front yard, I could see it hanging over the earth like a light bulb- not a hundred watter, like the sun, but maybe one of those twenty-five dealies you put in those swivel-neck desk lamps.  
I could see in the moonlight the red dome of my school's church. But just because I could see the school, didn't mean it was nearby. It was a good two miles away. In my pocket were the keys to the car, which I'd snitched a half hour earlier. The metal was warm from the heat of my body. The car, which was turquoise in daylight, looked gray as it sat in the shadow of the driveway.  
Hey, I know I don't have a license. But if Dumberer can do it...  
Okay. So I chickened out. Look, isn't it better I chose not to drive? I mean, not knowing how and all. Not that I don't know how. Of course I know how to drive. I just haven't had a whole lot of practice, having lived all my life in the public transportation capital of the world....  
Oh, never mind. I turned around, and started heading for the garage. There had to be a bike around somewhere. Three boys right? There had to be at least one bike.  
I found one. It was a boy's bike, of course, with that stupid bar, and a really hard, really skinny seat. But it seemed to work all right. At least the tires weren't flat.  
Then I thought. Okay. Girl dressed in black, riding a bike on the streets after midnight, what do I need?  
I didn't think I was going to find any reflective tape, but I thought maybe a bike helmet might do the trick. There was one hanging on a peg on the side of the garage. I put down the hood of my sweatshirt, and fastened the thing on. Oh, yeah. Stylish and safety conscious, that's me.  
And then I was off, rolling down the driveway- okay, gravel is not the easiest stuff to ride a bike on, especially going down hill. And the whole way turned out to be downhill, since the house was perched on the side of this mountainy kind of thing. Going downhill was certainly better than going uphill- there was no way I was ever going to be able to ride back up this thing; I had a pretty good idea I'd be doing some pushing on my way home- but going downhill was pretty harrowing. I mean, the hill was so cold, that I rode with my heart in my throat practically the whole time, tears streaming down the sides of my cheeks because of the wind. And those potholes...  
God! Did that stupid seat hurt when I hit a pothole.  
But the hill wasn't the worst of it. When I got down the hill, I hit an intersection. This was much scarier than the hill because even though it was after midnight, there were cars there. One of them honked at me. But it wasn't my fault. I was going so fast, because of the hill and all, that if I'd stopped I'd probably have gone right over the handlebars. So I kept on going, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a pickup, and then, I don't know how, I was pulling into the school parking lot.  
The school looked a lot different at night than it did during the day. For one thing, during the day the parking lot was always full, packed with cars belonging to teachers, students, and tourists visiting the church. The lot was empty now, not a single car, and so quiet that you could hear the sound of the wind rustling through the trees.  
The other thing was that, for tourists reasons, I guess, they had set up these spotlights to shine on certain parts of the building, like the dome- it was all lit up- and the front of the church, with its huge arched entranceway. The back of the building, where I pulled up, was pretty dark. Which suited me fine actually. I hid the bike behind a dumpster, leaving the helmet dangling from one of the handles, and went up to a window. The school was built like a bazillion years ago, back when they didn't have air conditioning or central heating, so to keep it cool in summer and warm in winter, people built their houses really thick. That meant that all the windows in the school were set back about a foot into the adobe, with another foot sticking out into the room behind them.  
I climbed up onto one of these first built-in window seats, looking around first to make sure no one saw me. But there wasn't anybody around except a couple of raccoons who were rooting around the dumpster for some of the lunch leftovers. Then I cupped my hands over my face, to cut out the light of the moon, and peered inside.  
It was Mr. Walden's classroom. With the moonlight flooding into it, I could see his handwriting on the chalkboard, and the big poster of "Learning Tips" on the wall.  
It only took me a second to punch out the glass in one of the old- fashioned iron panes, reach in, and unlatch the window. The hard part about breaking a window isn't the breaking part, or even the reaching part. It's getting your hand out again that always causes cuts. I had on my best demon- busting gloves, thick black ones with rubbery stuff on the knuckles, but I've had my sleeve get caught before, and gotten my arm all scratched up.  
That didn't happen this time. Plus, the window opened out, instead of up, swinging forward just enough to let a girl like me inside. Occasionally, I've broken into many places that turned out to have alarms- resulting in uncomfortable rides for me in the back of a police car- but the school hadn't gotten that high-tech with their security system yet. In fact, their security system seemed to consist of locking the doors and windows, hoping for the best.  
Which certainly suited me fine.  
  
Once I was inside Mr. Walden's room, I closed the window behind me. No sense alerting anybody who might happen to be manning the perimeter- as if. It was easy to maneuver between the desks, since the moon was so bright. And once I got the door open and stepped out into the breezeway, I found I didn't need my flashlight, either. The courtyard was flooded with light. I guess the school must stay open pretty late for the tourists because there were these big yellow floodlights hidden in the breezeway's eaves, and pointed at various objects of interest: the tallest of this, the biggest of that... The breezeway was empty, as was the courtyard. No one was around. All I could hear was the chirping of crickets hidden in the garden. It was a sort of restful place, actually, which was surprising. I mean, none of my other schools had ever struck me as restful. At least, this one did, until this hard voice behind me went, "what are you doing here?"  
I spun around, and there she was. Just leaning up against her locker-  
excuse me, MY locker- and glaring at me, her arms folded across her  
chest. She was wearing a pair of charcoal colored slacks- nice ones-  
and a gray cashmere sweater set. She had an add-a-pearl necklace  
around her neck, one pearl for every Christmas and birthday she'd been  
alive, given to her, no doubt, by a set of doting grandparents. On her  
feet was a pair of shiny black loafers. Her hair, as shiny as her  
shoes in the yellow light from the flood lamps, looked smooth and  
golden. She really was a beautiful girl. Too bad she had blown her head off.  
  
"Ayame," I said, pushing the hood of my sweatshirt down. "Hi. I'm sorry to bother you..."  
It always helps me at least to start out polite, "... but I really think we need to talk, you and I."  
Ayame didn't move. Well, that's not true. Her yes narrowed. There were pale eyes, gray, I think, though it was hard to tell, in spite of the flood lamps. The long eyelashes- dark with mascara- were tastefully ringed in charcoal liner.  
"Talk?" Ayame echoed. "Oh, yeah. Like I really want to talk to YOU. I know about you, Kagami."  
I winced. I couldn't help it. "It's Kagome," I said.  
"Whatever. I know what you're doing here."  
"Well, good," I said. "Then I don't have to explain. You want to go sit down, so we can talk?"  
"Talk? Why would I want to talk to you? What do you think I am, stupid? God, you think you're so sly. You think you can move right in, don't you?"  
I blinked at her. "I beg your pardon?"  
"Into my place." She straightened, and stepped away from the locker, and walked toward the courtyard. "You," she said, tossing me a look over her shoulder. "The new girl. The new girl who thinks she can just slip right into the place I left behind. You've already got my locker. You're on your way to stealing my best friend. I know Ayumi called you and asked you to her stupid party. And now you think you can steal my boyfriend."  
I put my hands on my hips. "He's not your boyfriend, Ayame, remember? He broke up with you. That's why you're dead. You blew your brains out in front of his mother."  
Ayame's eyes widened. "Shut up," she said.  
"You blew you brains out in front of his mother because you were too stupid to realize that no boy- not even Kouga Prince- is worth dying for." I strolled past her, out onto one of the gravel pathways between the garden beds. I didn't want to admit it, not even to myself, but it was making me a little nervous, standing under the breezeway after what happened to Kouga. "Boy, you must have been mad when you realized what you'd done. Killed yourself. And over something so stupid. Because of a guy."  
"Shut up!" this time she didn't just say it. She screamed it, so loud that she had to ball her hands up in fists at her sides, close her eyes, and hunch up her shoulders to do it. The scream was so loud my ears were ringing afterward. But no one came running from the rectory, where I saw a few lights on. The morning doves that I'd heard cooing in the eaves of the breezeway hadn't uttered a peep since Ayame had shown up, and the crickets had cut short their midnight serenade.  
People can't hear ghosts- well, most people, anyway- but the same cant be said for animals and even insects. They are hyper alert to the presence of the paranormal. Buyo, the Higurashi cat, wont go near my room thanks to Inuyasha.  
"It's no use your screaming like that," I said. "No one but me can hear it."  
"I'll scream all I want," she shrieked. And then she proceeded to do so.  
Yawning, I went and sat down on one of the wooden benches.  
"Are you listening to me?" Ayame screamed.  
I looked at her. "Do you know what the word abnegation means?" I asked.  
She stopped screaming and just stared at me. Then she strode forward, her face a mask of livid rage. Listen to me, you bitch," she said, stopping when she stood a foot away from me. "I want you gone, do you understand? I want you out of this school. That is my locker. Ayumi is my best friend. And Kouga Prince is MY boyfriend! You get out; you go back to where you came from. Everything was just fine before you got here..."  
I had to interrupt. "I'm sorry, Ayame, but everything was not just fine before I got here. You know how I know that? Because you're dead. Okay? You are dead. Dead people don't have lockers. Or best friends, or boyfriends. You know why? Because they're dead."  
Ayame looked as if she was about to start screaming again, but I headed her off as the pass. I said, smoothly and evenly, "now, I know you made a mistake. You made a horrible, terrible mistake..."  
"I'm not the one who made the mistake," Ayame said flatly. "Kouga made the mistake. Kouga is the one who broke up with me."  
I said, "Yeah, well, that wasn't the mistake I was talking about. I was talking about you shooting yourself because a stupid boy broke up with..."  
"If you think he's so stupid," Ayame said with a sneer, "why are you going out with him on Saturday? That's right. I heard him ask you out. The rat. He probably wasn't faithful a day the whole time we were going out."  
"Oh," I said. "Well, that's just great. All the more reason for you to kill yourself over him."  
There were tears, sparkling like those rhinestones you buy and glue to you fingernails, gathered beneath her eyelashes. "I loved him," she breathed. "If I couldn't have him, I didn't want to live."  
"And now that you're dead," I said, tiredly, "you figure he ought to join you, right?"  
"I don't like it here," she said softly. "No one can see me. Just you and Mother Kaede. I get so lonely..."  
"Right. That's understandable. But Ayame, even if you do manage to kill him, he probably isn't going to like you for it much."  
"I can make him like me," Ayame said confidently. "After all, it'll just be me and him. He'll have to like me."  
I shook my head. "No, Ayame. It doesn't work that way."  
She stared at me. "What do you mean?"  
"If you kill Kouga, there's no guarantee he'll end up here with you. What happened to people after they die- well, I'm not sure, but I think it's different for everyone. If you kill Kouga, he'll go to wherever it is he's supposed to go. Heaven, hell, his next life- I don't know for sure. But I do know he wont end up here with you. It doesn't work that way."  
"But..." Ayame looked furious. "But that isn't fair!"  
"Lots of things aren't fair, Ayame. It isn't fair, for example that you have to suffer for all eternity for a mistake that you made in the heat of a moment. I'm sure if you'd known what it was like to be dead, you never would have killed yourself. But, Ayame, it doesn't have to be this way."  
She stared down at me. The tears were frozen there, like little tiny shards of ice, "it doesn't?"  
"No it doesn't."  
"You mean... you mean I can go back?"  
I nodded. "You can. You can start over."  
She sniffled. "How?"  
I said. "All you have to do is make up your mind to do it."  
  
A scowl passed over her pretty face. "But I already made up my mind that that's what I want. All I've waned since it happened.... Was to get my life back."  
I shook my head. "No, Ayame," I said. "You misunderstood me. You can never have your life- your old life- back. But you can start a new one. That's got to be better than this, than being here all by yourself forever, storming around in rage, hurting people..."  
She shouted, "You said I could get my life back!"  
I realized, all in a flash, that I'd lost her, "I didn't mean your old life. I just meant a life..."  
But it was too late. She was freaking.  
I understood now why Kouga's parents had sent him away- before the whole suicide incident. I wished I were there, really, if it would get me out of the way of this girl's wrath.  
"You told me," Ayame screamed, "you told me I could get my life back! You LIED to me!"  
"Ayame, I didn't lie. I just meant that your life- well, your life is over. Ayame, you ended it yourself. I know that sucks, but hey, you should have thought of that..."  
She cut me off with an unearthly- well, of course- wail. "I wont let you," she shrieked. "I wont let you take over my life!"  
"Ayame I told you, I'm not trying to. I have my own life. I don't need yours..."  
  
"Ayame," I said, from my bench. "Ayame listen to me. You've got to calm down. We can't talk when you're..."  
"You... said..." Ayame's eyes, I was alarmed to see, had rolled back into her head. "I... could... start... OVER!"  
Okay. It was time to do something. I didn't need the bench beneath me to start shaking so violently that I was nearly thrown from it. I knew it was time to get up.  
I did so, fast. Fast so that the bench wouldn't hit me. Fast so that I could reach Ayame before she noticed, and deck her as hard as I could with a right beneath her chin.  
Only to my astonishment, she didn't even seem to feel it. She was too far-gone. Way too far gone. Hitting her had no effect whatsoever- except that it really hurt my knuckles. And, of course, it seemed to make her madder, always a plus when dealing with a severely disturbed individual.  
"You," Ayame said, in a deep voice that was nothing like her normal cheerleader chirp, "are going to be sorry now."  
  
I had a funny feeling Ayame was serious. What's more, I had a feeling she could do it too. Without even lifting a finger.  
And I had a confirmation of that fact when the head of a statue of a Buddha was whipped from the body. That's right. It just snapped off, as easily as if the solid bronze was made out of was actually spun candy. Noiselessly, too, she broke it off. The head hung in the air for a moment, its look of sympathetic compassion transformed from the bizarre angle at which it hung over my face into a demonic sneer. Then, as I stood there, transfixed, staring at the way the floodlights winked against the metal ball, I saw it dip suddenly...  
Then plunge toward me, hurtling so fast it was only a blur in the night sky, like a comet or a...  
I didn't get a chance to think what else it reminded me of because a split second later something heavy hit me in the stomach and sent me sprawling to the dirt where I lay, looking up at the starry sky. It was so pretty. The night was so black, and the stars so cold and far off and twinkly...  
"Get up!" a man's voice sounded harshly in my ear. "I thought you were supposed to be good at this!"  
Something exploded in the dirt just an inch from my cheek. I turned my head and saw Buddha's head grinning obscenely at me.  
Then Inuyasha was yanking me to my feet, and pulling me toward the breezeway.  
  
A/N:  
  
Okay, here's a little preview for the next chapter. ENJOY!  
  
"Cadaver breath." Inuyasha turned his head to look down at me. His chest was rising and falling. "Do you realize that's what you called me? That hurt, you know, aisuru. It really hurt."  
"I told you..." something heavy was buffeting against the door. I could feel it knocking against my spine. It didn't take a genius to guess it was the founder of a certain statue's head. "...Not to call me that."  
"Well, I would appreciate if you didn't make disparaging remarks about my..."  
"Look," I said. "This door isn't going to hold up forever."  
"No," he agreed, just as the metal head managed to smash its way partly through a spot it had weakened in the wood. "May I make a suggestion?"  
I was staring, horrified, down at the head, which had turned, halfway in and halfway out of the door, to look up at me with cold, bronze eyes. It's crazy, but I could have sworn it was smiling at me. "Sure," I said.  
  
"Run."  
  
I wasted no time in taking his advice. 


	11. Chapter 11

We made it back to Mr. Walden's classroom. I don't know how, but we did it, the statue's head hurtling after us the whole way, the velocity with which it was traveling causing it to whistle eerily, as if the Buddha were screaming. The head collided with all the force of a cannonball against the heavy wooden door, just as we slammed it closed behind us.  
  
"Holy Shit," Inuyasha sputtered, as we leaned, panting, with out backs pressed up against the door as if with our sheer weight, we could keep her out- Ayame, who could walk through walls if she wanted to. "'I can take care of myself,' you said. 'I'll just have to get rid of her first,' you told me. Right!"  
  
I was trying to catch my breath, and think what to do. I had never seen anything like that. Never. "Shut up," I said.  
  
"Cadaver breath." Inuyasha turned his head to look down at me. His chest was rising and falling. "Do you realize that's what you called me? That hurt, you know, aisuru. It really hurt."  
  
"I told you..." something heavy was buffeting against the door. I could feel it knocking against my spine. It didn't take a genius to guess it was the founder of a certain statue's head. "...Not to call me that."  
  
"Well, I would appreciate if you didn't make disparaging remarks about my..."  
  
"Look," I said. "This door isn't going to hold up forever."  
  
"No," he agreed, just as the metal head managed to smash its way partly through a spot it had weakened in the wood. "May I make a suggestion?"  
  
I was staring, horrified, down at the head, which had turned, halfway in and halfway out of the door, to look up at me with cold, bronze eyes. It's crazy, but I could have sworn it was smiling at me. "Sure," I said.  
  
"Run."  
  
I wasted no time in taking his advice. I ran for the windowsill, and, heedless of the shards of broken glass, swung myself up onto it. It only took a few seconds to open the window again but that was long enough for Inuyasha, still pushing against what had begun to sound like a hurricane with all the banging and wailing, to say, "Uh, hurry please?"  
  
I jumped down into the parking lot. It was kind of funny how, outside the thick adobe walls of the school, you couldn't tell at all that there was a severe paranormal disturbance going on inside. The parking lot was still empty, and still quiet, except for the gentle, rhythmic sound of ocean waves. It's just amazing what can be going on beneath people's noses, and they have no idea... no idea at all.  
  
"Inuyasha!" I hissed, through the window. "Come on!" I had no idea if Ayame might decide to take out her rage with me on an innocent party- or, if she did, whether Inuyasha had any cool tricks, like the one she pulled with the statue's head, of his own. All I knew was that the sooner the both of us got out of her range, the better.  
  
Okay, let me state right now that I am not a coward. I'm really not. But I'm not a fool, either. I think if you recognize that you are up against a force greater than your own, it is perfectly okay to run.  
  
It's not okay to leave others behind, though.  
  
"Inuyasha!" I screamed, through the window.  
  
"I thought I told you," said a very irritated voice from behind me, "to run."  
  
I gasped and spun around. Inuyasha stood there on the asphalt of the parking lot, the moon at his back, casting his face into shadow.  
  
"Oh my god." My heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to explode. I had never been so scared in all my life. Never.  
  
Maybe that's why I did what I did next, which was reach out and grab the front of Inuyasha's shirt in both my hands. "Oh my god," I said, again. "Inuyasha, are you all right?"  
  
"Of course I'm all right." He sounded surprised I'd even bother to ask. And I guess it was stupid. What could Ayame do to Inuyasha, after all? She couldn't exactly kill him. "Are YOU all right?"  
  
"Me? I'm fine." I turned my head to search the darkened windows of Mr. Walden's classroom. "Do you think she's.... done?"  
  
"For now," Inuyasha said.  
  
"How do you know?" I was shocked to find that I was shaking- really shaking- all over. "How do you know she won't come bursting through that wall there and start uprooting all those trees and hurling them at us?"  
  
Inuyasha shook his head, and I could see that he was smiling. You know, for a guy who died before they invented orthodontia, he had pretty nice teeth. Almost as nice as Kouga's. "She won't."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because she won't. She doesn't know she can. She's too new at all this, Kagome. She doesn't know yet all that she can do."  
  
If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't work. The fact that he admitted she COULD uproot trees and start hurling them at me- she was that powerful- and only hadn't due to lack of experience, was enough to stop my shaking cold, and drop the handfuls of shirt I held. Not that I didn't think Ayame could have followed me if she wanted to. She could, the same way Inuyasha had followed me down to school. But the thing of it was, Inuyasha knew he could. He'd been a dead partial demon a lot longer than Ayame. She was only just beginning to explore her new powers.  
  
That was the scariest part. She was so new at all of this... and already that powerful.  
  
I started pacing around the parking lot like a crazy woman.  
  
"We've got to do something," I said. "We've got to warn Mother Kaede- and Kouga. My god, we've got to warn Kouga not to come to school tomorrow. She'll kill him. She'll kill him the minute he sets foot on campus..."  
  
"Kagome," Inuyasha said.  
  
"I guess we could call him. It's one in the morning, but we could call him, and tell him- I don't know what we could tell him. We could tell him there's been a death threat on him, or something. That might work. Or- we could leave a death threat. Yeah, that's what we could do we could call his house and I could disguise my voice, and I could be like, 'Don't come to school tomorrow, or you'll die.' Maybe he'd listen."  
  
"Kagome," Inuyasha said again.  
  
"Or we could had Mother Kaede do it! We could have Mother Kaede call Kouga and tell him not to come to school, that there's been some kind of accident or something. Something..."  
  
"Kagome," Inuyasha stepped in front of me just as I turned around to retread the same five feet I'd been pacing for the past few minutes. I came up short, startled by his sudden proximity, my nose practically banging into place where his shirt collar was open. Inuyasha seized both my arms quickly, to steady me.  
  
This was no a good thing. I mean, I know a minute ago I had grabbed him- well, not really him, but his shirt. But I don't like being touched under normal circumstances, and I especially don't like being touched by demons. And I ESPECIALLY don't like being touched by a demon who has hands as big and as tendony and strong-looking at Inuyasha's.  
  
"Kagome," he said again, before I could tell him to get his big tendony hands off me. "It's all right. It's not your fault. There was nothing you could do."  
  
I sort of forgot about being mad about his hands. "Nothing I could do? Are you kidding me? I should have kicked that girl back into her grave!"  
  
"No." Inuyasha shook his head. "She'd have killed you."  
  
"Bull! I totally could have taken her. If she hadn't done that thing with that head..."  
  
"Kagome."  
  
"I mean it, Inuyasha, I could totally have handled her if she had gotten so mad. I bet if I just wait a little while until she's calmed down and go back in there, I can talk her into..."  
  
"No." He let go of my arms, but only so he could wrap one of his own around my shoulders and start steering me away from the school and toward the dumpster where I'd parked my bike. "Come on. Let's go home."  
  
"But what about..."  
  
The grip on my shoulders tightened. "No."  
  
"Inuyasha, you don't understand. This is my job. I have to..."  
  
"It's Mother Kaede's job too, no? Let him take it from here. There's no reason why you have to be burdened with all the responsibility yourself."  
  
"Well, yes, there is. I'm the one who screwed up."  
  
"You put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger?"  
  
"Of course not. But I'm the one who got her so mad. Mother Kaede didn't. I can't ask Mother Kaede to clean up my messes. That is totally unfair."  
  
"What is totally unfair," Inuyasha explained- patiently, I guess, for him, "is for anyone to expect a young HUMAN girl like you to do battle with a demon from hell like..."  
  
"She isn't a demon from hell." I said, although technically she was. "She's just mad because the one guy she thought she could trust turned out to be a..."  
  
"Kagome." Inuyasha stopped walking suddenly. The only reason I didn't lurch forward and fall flat on my face was that he still kept hold of my shoulder.  
  
For a minute- just a minute- I really thought... well, I thought he was going to kiss me. I'd never been kissed before, but it seemed as if all the necessities for a kiss to happen were there: you know, his arm was around me, there was moonlight, our hearts were racing- oh, yeah, and we'd both just narrowly escaped being killed by a really pissed off demon.  
  
Of course, I didn't know how I felt about my first kiss coming from one of the undead, who happened to be part demon, but hey, beggars cant be choosers, and let me tell you something, Inuyasha was way cuter than any live human guy I'd met lately. I'd never seen such a nice-looking guy. He couldn't, I thought, have been more than twenty when he died. I wondered what had killed him. It's usually hard to tell with demons, since their spirits tend to take on the shape their body was in just before they stopped functioning. My dad, for instance, doesn't look any different when he appears to me now than he did the day before he went out for that fatal jog around the park ten years ago.  
  
I could only assume Inuyasha had died at someone else's hands since he looked pretty damned healthy to me. Chances were he'd been a victim of one of those bullet holes downstairs. Nice of Nobunaga to frame it for posterity's sake.  
  
And now this extremely nice-looking hanyou looked as if he were going to kiss me. Well, who was I to stop him?  
  
So I sort of leaned my head back and looked at him from underneath my eyelids, and sort of let my mouth get all relaxed, you know? And that's when I noticed his attention wasn't focused anywhere near my lips, but way below them. And not my chest either, which would have been an okay second.  
  
"You're bleeding," he said.  
  
Well that pretty much spoiled the moment. My eyes popped wide open at that particular remark.  
  
"I am not," I said automatically since I didn't feel any pain. Then I looked down. There were smallish stains flowering on the pavement below my feet. You couldn't tell what color they were because it was so dark. In the moonlight, they looked black. There were similar stains, I saw with horror, on the front of Inuyasha's shirt.  
  
But they were definitely coming from me I checked myself out, and found that I'd managed to open what was probably one of the smaller, but still fairly important, veins in my writs. I'd peeled off my gloves and stuffed them in my pockets while I'd been talking to Ayame, and in my haste to escape during her fit of rage, I'd forgotten to put them back on. I'd probably sliced myself on the broken glass still littering the windowsill in Mr. Walden's classroom when I'd vaulted up onto it during my escape. Which had just proved my theory that it's always on the way out that you get stuck.  
  
"Oh," I said, watching the blood ooze out. I couldn't think of anything else to say but, "what a mess. I'm sorry about your shirt."  
  
"It's nothing." Inuyasha reached into one of the pockets of his dark wide- fitting trousers and pulled out something white and soft that he wrapped around my wrist a few times, then tied into place like a tourniquet, only not as tight. He didn't say anything as he did this, concentrating on what he was doing. I have to say this was the first time a demon had ever performed first aid on me. Not quite as interesting as a kiss would have been, but not entirely boring, either.  
  
There," he said when he was finished. "Does that hurt?"  
  
No," I said, since it didn't. It wouldn't start hurting, I knew from experience, for a few hours. I cleared my throat. "Thanks."  
  
"It's nothing." He said.  
  
"No," I said. Suddenly, ridiculously, I felt like crying. Really. And I never cry. "I mean it. Thanks. Thanks for coming out here to help me. You shouldn't have done it. I mean, I'm glad you did. And... well, thanks. That's all."  
  
He looked embarrassed. Well, I suppose that was natural, me going all mushy on him the way I had just then. But I couldn't help it. I mean, I still couldn't really believe it. No demon had ever been so nice to me. Oh, my dad tried, I guess. But he wasn't exactly what you'd call reliable about it. I could never really count on him, especially in a crisis.  
  
But Inuyasha... Inuyasha had come through for me. And I hadn't even asked him to. In fact, I'd been pretty unpleasant to him, overall.  
  
"Never mind," was all he said though. And then he added, "let's go home."  
  
A/N:  
  
Aww... fluffness... how sweet....  
  
Anyways, I changed the spacing, so hopefully it'll be easier to read. If it's not, just tell me.  
  
REVIEW!!! 


	12. Chapter 12

Let's go home.  
It had a very cozy feel to it, that "let's go home."  
Except of course, that the house we shared didn't quite feel like home to me yet. How could it? I'd only lived there a few days.  
And, of course, HE shouldn't have been living there at all.  
Still, demon or not, he'd saved my life. There was no denying that. He'd probably only done it to get on my good side so I wouldn't kick him out of the house entirely.  
But regardless of why he'd done it, it had still been pretty nice of him. Nobody had ever volunteered to help me before- mostly because, of course, nobody knew I needed help. Even Eri, who'd been there with the fortune teller, never knew why it was I would show up to school so groggy- eyed, or where it was I went when I cut class- which I did all too frequently. And I couldn't exactly explain. Not that Eri would have thought I was crazy or anything, but she'd have told someone- you cant keep something like this secret unless it's happening to you- who'd have told someone else, and eventually, somewhere along the line, I knew someone would have told my mother.  
And my mother would have freaked. That is, naturally, what mothers do, and mine is no exception. She'd already stuck me in therapy where I was forced to sit and invent elaborate lies in the hopes of explaining my anti- social behavior. I did not need to spend any time in a mental institution, which was undoubtedly where I'd have ended up if my mother had ever found out the truth.  
So, yeah, I was grateful to have Inuyasha along, even though he sort of made me nervous. After the debacle at the mission, he walked me home, which was gentlemanly and all. He even, in deference to my injury, insisted on pushing the bike. I suppose if anybody had looked out the window of any of the houses we were passing, they would have thought their eyes were playing tricks on them; they'd have seen me plodding along with the bike rolling effortlessly beside me- only my hands weren't touching the bike.  
Good thing people on this side of the country go to bed so early.  
The whole way home, I obsessed over what I'd done wrong in my dealings with Ayame. I didn't do it out loud- I figured I'd done enough of that; I didn't want to sound like a broken record or player piano, or whatever it was they had back in Inuyasha's day... that was IF they had anything in his day...  
But it was all I could think about. Never, not in all my years of miko training, had I ever encountered such a violent, irrational demon. I simply did not know what to do. And I knew I had to figure it out, and quick; I only had a few hours before school started and Kouga walked straight into what was, for him, a deathtrap.  
I don't know of Inuyasha figured out why I was so quiet, or if he was thinking about Ayame, too, or what. All I know was that suddenly he broke the silence we'd been walking in and went, "'Heav'n hath no rage like love to hatred turn'd, nor hell a fury like a woman scorn'd.'"  
I looked at him. "Are you speaking from experience?"  
I saw him smile a little in the moonlight. "Actually," he said, 'I am quoting William Congreve."  
"Oh." I thought about that. "But you know, sometimes the woman scorned has every right to be mad."  
'Are YOU speaking from experience?" he wanted to know. I snorted. "Not hardly." A guy has to like you before he can scorn you. But I didn't say that out loud. No way I would ever say something like that out loud. I mean, not that I cared what Inuyasha thought about me. Why should I care what some dead hanyou thought of me?  
But I wasn't about to admit to him that I'd never had a boyfriend. You just don't go around saying things like that to totally hot guys, even if they're dead demons.  
"But we don't know what went on between Ayame and Kouga- not really. I mean, she could have every right to feel resentful."  
"Toward him, I suppose she does," Inuyasha said, though he sounded grudging about admitting it. "But not toward you. She had no right to try to hurt you."  
He sounded so mad about it that I thought it was probably better to change the subject. I mean, I guess I should have been mad about Ayame trying to kill me, but you know, I'm sort of used to dealing with irrational people. Well, okay, not quite as irrational as Ayame, but you know what I mean. And one thing I've learned is, you can't take it personally. Yeah, she'd tried to kill me, but I wasn't really sure she knew any better. Who knew what kind of parents she had after all? Maybe they went around murdering anybody who made them mad...  
Although somehow, after having seen that add-a-pearl necklace, I sort of doubted that.  
Thinking about murder made me wonder what had gotten Inuyasha so hot under the collar about it. Then I realized that he'd probably been murdered. Either that or he'd killed himself. But I didn't think he was really the suicidal type. I supposed he could have died of some sort of wasting disease...  
It probably wasn't very tactful of me- but then, nobody ever accused me of tact- but I went ahead and just asked him as we were climbing the long gravel driveway to the house, "hey. How'd you die, anyway?"  
Inuyasha didn't say anything right away. I'd probably offended him. Demons don't really like talking about how they died, I've noticed. Sometimes they can't even remember. Car crash victims usually haven't the slightest clue what happened to them. That's why I always see them wandering around looking for other people who were in the car with them. I have to go up and explain to them what happened, and then try to figure out where the people are that they're looking for. This is a major pain, too, let me tell you. I have to go all the way to the precinct that took the accident report and pretend I'm doing a school report or whatever and record the named of the victims, and then follow up on what happened to them.  
I tell you, sometimes I feel like my work never ends.  
Anyway, Inuyasha was quiet for a while, and I figured he wasn't going to tell me. He was looking straight ahead, up at the house- the house where he'd died, the house he was destined to haunt until... well, until he resolved whatever it was that was holding him to this world.  
The moon was still out, pretty high in the sky now, and I could see Inuyasha's face almost as if it were day. He didn't look a whole lot different than usual. His mouth, which was on the thin-but-wide side, was kind of frowning, which, as near as I could tell, was what it usually did. And underneath those glossy black eyebrows, his thickly-lashed eyes revealed about as much as a mirror- that is, I could probably have seen my reflection in them, but I could read nothing about what he might be thinking.  
"Um," I said. "You know what? Never mind. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to..."  
"No," he said. "It's all right."  
"I was just kinda curious, that's all," I said. "But if it's too personal..."  
"It isn't too personal." We had reached the house by then. He wheeled the bike to where it was supposed to go, and leaned it up against the carport wall. He was deep in the shadows when he said, "you know this house wasn't always a family home."  
I went, "oh really?" like this was the first I'd heard of it.  
"Yes. It was once a hotel. Well, more like a boarding house, really, than a hotel."  
I asked, brightly, "and you were staying here as a guest?"  
"Yes." He came out from the shade of the carport, but he wasn't looking at me when he spoke next. He was squinting out toward the moon.  
"And..." I tried to prompt him. "Something happened while you were staying here?"  
"Yes." He looked at me then. He looked at me for a long time. Then he said, "but it's a long story, and you must be very tired. Go to bed. In the morning we will decide that to do about Ayame."  
Talk about unfair!  
"Wait a minute," I said. "I am not going anywhere until you finish that story."  
He shook his head. "No. It's too late. I'll tell you some other time."  
"Jeez!" I sounded like a little kid whose mom had told him to go to bed early, but I didn't care. I was mad. "You can't just start a story and then not finish it. You have to..."  
Inuyasha was laughing at me now. "Go to bed, Kagome," he said, coming up and giving me a gentle push toward the front steps. "You have had enough scaring for one night."  
"But you..."  
"Some other time," he said. He had steered me in the direction of the porch, and now I stood on the lowest step, looking back at him as he laughed at me.  
"Do you promise?"  
I saw his fangs flash white in the moonlight. "I promise. Good night, aisuru."  
"I told you," I grumbled, stomping up the steps, "not to call me that."  
It was nearly three o'clock in the morning, though, and I could only summon up token indignation. I slipped into the house as quietly as I could. Fortunately, everybody except the cat, Buyo, was asleep. The cat looked up from the couch on which he was reclining and wagged his tail when he saw it was me. Some cat. Plus my mom didn't want him sleeping on her white couch. But I wasn't about to make an enemy out of him by shooing him off. If allowing him to sleep on the couch was all that was necessary to keep him from alerting the household that I'd been out, then it was well worth it.  
I slogged up the stairs, wondering the whole time what I was going to do about Ayame. I guessed I was going to have to wake up early and call over to the school, and warn Mother Kaede to meet Kouga the minute he set foot on campus and send him home. Even, I decided, if we had to resort to head lice, I wouldn't object. All that mattered, in the long run, was that Ayame was kept from her goal.  
Still, the thought of waking up early to do anything- even save the life of my date for Saturday night- was not very appealing. Now that the adrenaline rush was gone, I realized I was dead tired. I staggered into the bathroom to change into my pj's- hey, I was pretty sure Inuyasha wasn't spying on me, but he still hadn't told me how he'd died, so I wasn't taking any chanced. He could have been hanged, you know, for peeping Tomism, which I believed happened occasionally five hundred years ago.  
It wasn't until I was changing the bandage on the cut on my wrist that I happened to take a look at the thing that he'd wrapped around it.  
It was a handkerchief. Everybody carried on in the olden days because there was no such thing as a Kleenex. People were pretty fussy about them, too, sewing their initials onto them so they didn't get mixed up in the wash with other people's hankies.  
Only Inuyasha's handkerchief didn't have his initials on it, I noticed after I'd rinsed it in the sink then wrung out my blood as best I could. It was a big linen square, white- well, kind of red now- with an edging all around it of this delicate white lace. Kind of fem for a guy. I might have been a little concerned about Inuyasha's sexual orientation if I hadn't noticed the initials sewn in one corner. The stitches were tiny, white thread on white material, but the letters themselves were huge, in flowery script: KDA. That was right. KDA. No I to be found.  
Weird, very weird.  
I hung the cloth up to dry. I didn't have to worry about someone seeing it. In the first place, nobody used the bathroom but me, and in the second place, nobody would be able to see it anymore than they could see Inuyasha. It would be there tomorrow. Maybe I wouldn't give it back to him without demanding some sort of explanation as to those letters. KDA.  
It wasn't until I was falling asleep that I realized KDA must have been a girl. Why else would there have been all that lace? Ant that curlicue script? Had Inuyasha died not in a gunfight, as I'd originally assumed, but I some sort of lover's quarrel?  
I don't know why the thought disturbed me so much, but it did. It kept me awake for about three whole minutes. Then I rolled over, missed my old bed very briefly, and fell asleep.  
  
A/N:  
  
Wow.... It has been a long time, and I'm really sorry. School's been pretty busy.  
  
I have like a dozen reports due, memorizing a speech, going on to STATE!!!!! Plus track practice every freaking day, and track meets that last like FIVE HOURS!  
  
Well, hopefully I'll update soon! 


	13. Chapter 13

My intention of course, had been to wake up early and call Mother Kaede to warn her about Ayame. But intentions are only as good as the people who hold them, and I guess I must be worthless because I didn't wake up until my mother shook me awake, and by then it was seven thirty and my ride was leaving without me.  
  
Or so they thought. There was a huge delay when Dumber discovered he'd lost the keys to the car, so I was able to drag myself out of bed and into some kind of outfit- I had no idea what. I came staggering down the stairs, feeling like somebody had hit me on the head a few times with a bag of rocks just as Shippo- err... Dumb, was telling everybody that if he missed another Assembly, the teachers had threatened to hold him back a year.  
  
That's when I remembered the keys to the car were still in the pocket of my leather jacket where I'd left them the night before.  
  
I slunk back upstairs and pretended to find the keys on the landing. There was some jubilation over this, but mostly a lot of grumbling, since Dumber swore he'd left them hanging on the key hook in the kitchen and couldn't figure out how they'd gotten to the landing. Dumberer said, "It was probably Shippo's ghost," he leered at Dumb, who looked embarrassed.  
  
Then we all piled into the car and took off.  
  
We were late of course. Assembly at school begins promptly at eight o'clock. We got there at around two after. What happens at Assembly is, they make everybody stand outside in these lines separated by sex, boys on one side, girls on the other- like we're Quakers or something- for fifteen minutes before school officially starts, so they can take attendance and read announcements and stuff. By the time we got there, of course, Assembly had already started. I had intended to duck right past and head straight to mother Kaede's office, but of course I never got the chance. A teacher I didn't know jotted down in her little book about me, but I could see that getting to the principal's office was going to be impossible, due to yellow caution tape strung up across every single archway that led up to the courtyard- and, of course, all the cops.  
  
I guess what had happened was, all the priests and priestesses and stuff had gotten up for morning worship, and they'd walked outside and seen the statue of Buddha with his head cut off, and the bench where'd I'd been sitting, all twisted and tipped over, and the door to Mr. Walden's classroom in smithereens.  
  
Understandably, I guess, they freaked out and called the cops. People in uniform were crawling all over the place, taking fingerprints and measuring stuff, like the distance Buddha's head had traveled from his body, and the velocity it had to have traveled to make that many holes in I door that was made of three-inch-thick wood, and that kind of thing. I saw a guy in a dark blue windbreaker conferring with Mother Kaede, who looked really, really tired. I couldn't catch her eye, and supposed I'd have to wait until after the Assembly to sneak away and apologize to him.  
  
At assembly, the teachers told us vandals had done it. Vandals had broken in through Mr. Walden's classroom, and wreaked havoc all over the school. The vandals had rudely beheaded Buddha, but left the really valuable stuff alone. We were told that if any of us knew about this horrible violation, we were to come forward immediately. And that if we were uncomfortable coming forward personally, we could do it anonymously.  
As if! Hey, it hadn't been my fault Ayame had gone berserk. Well, not really anyway. If anybody should be going to confess, it was HER.  
  
As I stood in line- behind Sango, who couldn't hide her delight over what had happened; you could practically see the headline forming in her mind; Buddha Loses His Head Over Vandals- I craned my neck, trying to see over to the seniors. Was Kouga there I couldn't see him. Maybe Mother Kaede had gotten him already, and sent him home. He had to have recognized that the mess in the courtyard was the result of demonic, not human, agitation, and had acted accordingly. I hoped, for Kouga's sake, that Mother Kaede hadn't resorted to the head lice.  
  
Okay, I hoped it for my sake, I admit it. I really wanted our date on Saturday to go well, and not be canceled due to head lice. Is that such a crime? A girl can't spend all her time battling demonic disturbances. She needs a little romance, too.  
  
But of course, the minute Assembly was over I tried to ditch homeroom and hightail it to Mother Kaede's office, a teacher caught me and said, just as I was bout to duck under some of the yellow caution tape, "excuse me, Miss Higurashi. Perhaps back at your home it is perfectly all right to ignore police warnings, but here in Tokyo it is considered highly ill- advised."  
  
I straightened. I had nearly made it, too. I thought some uncharitable things about that teacher, but managed to say, civilly enough, "oh, I'm so sorry. You see, I just need to get to mother Kaede's office."  
  
"Mother Keade," she said coldly, "is extremely busy this morning. She happens to be consulting with the police over last night's unfortunate incident. He wont be available until after lunch at the earliest."  
  
I know it's probably wrong to fantasize about giving a priestess a karate chop in the neck, but I couldn't help it. She was making me mad.  
  
"Listen," I said. "Mother Kaede asked me to come see her this morning. I've got some, um, transcripts from my old school that she wanted to see. I had to have them FedExed all the way from home, and they just got here, so..."  
  
I thought that was pretty quick thinking on my part, about the transcripts and the FedEx and all, but then the stupid teacher held out her hand and went, "give them to me, and I'll be happy to deliver them to Mother."  
  
Damn!  
  
"Uh," I said, backing away. "Never mind. I guess I'll just... I'll see her after lunch then."  
  
The teacher gave me a kind of Aha-I-thought-so look, and then turned her attention to some innocent kid who'd made the mistake of coming to school in a pair of Levi's, a blatant violation of the dress code. The kid wailed, "they were my only clean pants!" but the teacher didn't care. She stood there- unfortunately still guarding the only route to the principal's office- and wrote the kid up on the spot.  
  
I had no choice but to go to class. I mean, what was there to tell Mother Kaede, anyway, that she didn't already know? I'm sure she knew it was Ayame who'd broken Mr. Walden's window. She probably wasn't going to be all that happy with me anyway, so why was I even bothering? What I ought to have been doing was trying as much as possible to stay out of his way.  
  
Except... except what about Ayame?  
  
As near as I could tell, she was still recuperating from her explosive rage the night before. I saw no sign of her as I made my way to Mr. Walden's classroom for first period, which was good: it meant Mother Kaede and I would have time to draw up some kind of plan before she struck me again.  
  
As I sat there in class trying to convince myself that everything was going to be all right, I couldn't help feeling kind of bad for poor Mr. Walden. He was taking having the door to his classroom obliterated pretty well. He didn't even seem to mind the broken window so much. Of course everybody in school was buzzing about what had happened. People were saying that it had been a prank, the severing of Buddha's head. A senior prank. One year, Sango told me, the seniors had strapped pillows to the clappers of the church bells, so that when they rang, all that came out was a muffled sort of splatting sound. I guess people suspected this was the same sort of thing.  
  
If only they had known the truth. Ayame's seat, next to Ayumi, remained conspicuously vacant, while her locker- now assigned to me- was still inoperable thanks to the dent her body had made when I'd thrown her against it.  
  
It was sort of ironic that I was sitting there thinking this when Ayumi raised her hand and when Mr. Walden called on her, asked if he didn't think it was unfair that no memorial service was being held for Ayame.  
  
Mr. Walden leaned back in his seat and put both his feet on his desk. Then he said, "don't look at me, I just work here."  
  
"Well," Ayumi said, "don't you think it's unfair?" she turned to the rest of the class, her big, mascara-rimmed eyes appealing. "Ayame went here for ten years. It's inexcusable that she shouldn't be memorialized in her own school. And, frankly, I think what happened yesterday was a sign."  
  
Mr. Walden looked vastly amused. "A sign, Ayumi?"  
  
"That's right. I believe what happened here last night- and even that piece of the breezeway nearly killing Kouga- are all connected. I don't believe Buddha's statue was desecrated by vandals at all, but by angels. Angels who are angry about her not having a funeral here."  
  
This caused a good deal of buzzing in the classroom. People looked nervously at Ayame's empty chair. Normally, I don't talk much in school, but I couldn't let this one go by. I said, "So you're saying you think it was an angel who broke this window behind me, Ayumi?"  
  
Ayumi had to twist around in her seat to see me. Well," she said. "It could have been..."  
  
"Right. And you think it was angels who broke down Mr. Walden's door, and cut off that statue's head, and wrecked the courtyard?"  
  
Ayumi stuck out her chin. "Yes," she said. "I do. Angels angered over the fact that Ayame never had a real memorial service."  
  
I shook my head. "Bull," I said.  
  
Ayumi raised her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon?"  
  
"I said bull, Ayumi. I think your theory is full of bull."  
  
Ayumi turned a very interesting shade of red. I think she was probably regretting inviting me to her pool party. "You don't know it wasn't angels, Kagome," she said acidly.  
  
"Actually I do. Because to the best of my knowledge, angels don't bleed, and there was blood all over the carpeting back here from where the vandal hurt himself breaking in. that's why the police cut up chinks of the rug and took them away." Ayumi wasn't the only who gasped. Everybody kind of freaked out. I probably shouldn't have pointed out the blood- especially since it was mine- but hey, I couldn't let her go around saying it was all because of angels. Angels, my butt. What did she think this was anyway?  
  
"Okay," Mr. Walden said. "On that note, everybody, it's time for second period. Kagome, could I see you a minute?"  
  
Sango turned around to waggle her eyebrows at me. "You're in for it now, sucker," she hissed.  
  
But she had no idea how true her words were. All anybody would have to do was take a look at the Band-Aids all over my wrist, and they'd know I had firsthand knowledge of where that blood had come from.  
  
On the other hand, they had no reason to suspect me, did they?  
  
I approached Mr. Walden's desk, my heart in my throat. He's going to turn you in, I thought, frantically. You are so busted Higurashi.  
  
But all Mr. Walden wanted to do was compliment me on my use of footnotes in my essay, which he had noticed as I handed it in.  
  
"Uh," I said. "It was really no big deal, Mr. Walden."  
  
"Yes, but footnotes..." he sighed. "I haven't seen footnotes used correctly since I taught adult education class over at the community college. Really, you did a great job."  
  
I muttered a modest thank you. I didn't want to admit that the reason I knew so much about my essay topic was that I'd once helped a veteran direct a couple of his ancestors to a long buried bag of money he'd dropped during it. It's funny the things that even demons want for their family.  
  
I was bout to tell Mr. Walden that while I'd have loved, under ordinary circumstances, to stick around and chat about famous events, I really had to go- I was going to see if anyone was guarding the way to Mother Kaede's office- when Mr. Walden stopped me cold with these few words: "it's funny about Ayumi bringing up Ayame that way actually, Kagome."  
  
I eyed him warily. "Oh? How so?"  
  
"Well I don't know if you're aware of this, but Ayame was the sophomore class vice president, and now that she's gone, we've been collecting nominations for a new VP. Well, believe it or not, you've been nominated. Twelve times so far."  
  
My eyes must have bugged out of my head. I forgot all about how I had to go and see Mother Kaede. "Twelve times?"  
  
"Yes, I know, it's unusual, isn't it?"  
  
I couldn't believe it. "But I've only been going her one day!"  
  
"Well, you made quite an impression. I myself would guess that you didn't exactly make any enemies yesterday when you offered to break Ayumi's fingers after school. She is not one of the better-liked girls in the class."  
  
I stared at him. So Mr. Walden HAD overheard my little threat. The fact he had and not sent me straight to detention made me appreciate him in a way I'd never appreciated a teacher before.  
  
"Oh, and I guess pushing Kouga Prince out of the way of that flying chunk of wood- that probably didn't hurt much either." He added.  
  
"Wow," I said. I guess I probably don't need to point out that at my old school, I wouldn't have exactly won any popularity contests. I never even bothered going out for cheerleading or running for homecoming queen. Besides the fact that at my old school cheerleading was considered a stupid waste of time and at home it isn't exactly a compliment to be called a queen, I never would have made one either. And no one- no one- had ever nominated me before for anything.  
  
I was way too flattered to follow my initial instinct, which was to say, "thanks, but no thanks," and run.  
  
"Well," I said, instead, "what does the vice president of the sophomore class have to do?"  
  
Mr. Walden shrugged. "Help the president determine how to spend the class budget, mostly. It's not much, just a little over three thousand dollars. Ayumi and Ayame were planning on using the money to hold a dance over at the Tokyo Inn, but..."  
  
"Three thousand dollars?" my mouth was probably hanging open, but I didn't care.  
  
"Yes, I know it's not much..."  
  
"And we can spend it anyway we want?" my mind was spinning. "Like, if we wanted to have a bunch of cookouts down at the beach, we could do that?"  
  
Mr. Walden looked at me curiously. "Sure. You have to have the approval of the rest of the class, though. I have a feeling there might be some noises from administration about using the class money to mend the statue's head..."  
  
But whatever Mr. Walden had been about to day, he didn't get a chance to finish. Sango came running back into the classroom, her brown eyes wide.  
  
"Come quick!" she yelled. "There's been an accident! Mother Kaede and Kouga Prince..."  
  
I whirled around fast. "What?" I demanded, way more sharply that I need to. "What about them?"  
  
"I think they're dead!"  
  
A/N: Wow, I updated faster than I expected...  
  
Well in the next chapter, is a short, funny little mix up between Shippo, (Dumb) Kagome, a teacher, and Ayame herself. It's not REALLY funny, but it'll make you smile at least. 


	14. Chapter 14

I ran so fast that later, the track coach asked me if I'd like to try out for the team.  
  
But Sango was wrong an all three accounts. Mother Kaede wasn't dead. Neither was Kouga.  
  
And there'd been nothing accidental about it.  
  
As near as anyone could figure out, what happened was this: Kouga went into the principal's office for something- nobody knew what. A late pass, maybe, since he'd missed Assembly- but not, as I'd hoped, because Mother Kaede had got hold of him. Kouga had been standing in front of the secretary's desk beneath the giant Buddha statue Miroku told me, would weep tears of blood if a virgin ever graduated from here (the secretary hadn't been there, she'd been out serving coffee to the cops who were still hanging around the courtyard) when the six-foot-tall Buddha suddenly came loose from the wall. Mother Kaede opened her office door just in time to see it falling, where it surely would have crushed Kouga's skull. But because Mother Kaede shoved him to safety, it succeeded only in delivering a glancing blow that crushed Kouga's collarbone.  
  
Unfortunately, Mother Kaede ended up taking the weight of the fallen cross herself. It pinned her to the office floor, smashing most of her ribs, and breaking on of her legs.  
  
Mrs. Walden and a bunch of the teachers tried to get us to go to class instead of crowding the breezeway, watching for Mother Kaede and Kouga to emerge from the principal's office. Some people went when they threatened everyone with detention, but not me. I didn't care if I got detention. I had to make sure they were all right. The same teacher who had blocked my entrance to Mother Kaede's office earlier that day, said something about how maybe Miss Higurashi didn't realize how unpleasant detention here could be. I assured her that if she was threatening corporal punishment, I would tell my mother, who was a local news anchorwoman and would be over here with a TV camera so fast, nobody would have time to chant a single little prayer thing.  
  
She was pretty quiet after that.  
  
It was shortly after this that I found Dumb pressed up pretty close to me. I looked down and said, "What are YOU doing here?" since the little kids are supposed to stay way on the other side of the school.  
  
"I want to see if he's all right." Dumb's freckles were standing out, he was so pale.  
  
"You're going to get in trouble," I warned him. Teachers were busy writing people up.  
  
"I don't care," Dumb said. "I want to see."  
  
I shrugged. He was a funny kid, that Dumb. He wasn't anything like his big brothers, and it wasn't because of his red hair either. I remembered Dumberer's teasing comment about the car key's and "Shippo's ghost," and wondered how much, if anything, Dumb knew about what had been going on lately at his school.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came out. Kouga was first, strapped onto a stretcher and moaning, I'm sorry to say, like a bit of a baby. I've had plenty of broken and dislocated bones, and believe me it hurts, but not enough to lie there moaning. Usually when I get hurt, I don't even notice. Like last night, for instance. When I'm really hurt all I can do is laugh because it hurts so much that it's actually funny.  
  
Okay I have to admit I sort of stopped liking Kouga so much when I saw him acting like such a baby...  
  
Especially when I saw Mother Kaede, who the paramedics wheeled out next. She was unconscious; her white hair sort of flopped over in a sad way, a jagged cut, partially covered by gauze, over her right eye. I hadn't eaten any breakfast in my haste to get to school, and I have to admit the sight of poor Mother Kaede with her eyes closed and her glasses gone, made me feel a little woozy.  
  
In fact I might have swayed a little on my feet, and probably would have fallen over if Dumb hadn't grabbed my hand and said confidently, "I know. The sight of blood makes me sick too."  
  
But it wasn't the sight of Mother Kaede's blood seeping through the bandage on her head that had made me sick. It was the realization that I had failed. I had failed miserably. It was only dumb blind luck that Ayame hadn't succeeded in killing them both. It was only because of Mother Kaede's quick thinking that she and Kouga were alive. It was no thanks to me. No thanks to me whatsoever.  
  
Because if I had handled things better the night before it wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened at all.  
  
That's when I got mad. I mean REALLY mad.  
  
Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I looked down at Dumb. "Is there a computer here at school? One with Internet access?"  
  
"Sure," Dumb said, looking surprised. "In the library. Why?"  
  
I dropped his hand. "Never mind. Go back to class."  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
"Anyone who isn't in his or her classroom in one minute," than REALLY annoying teacher said, imperiously, "will be suspended indefinitely!"  
  
Dumb tugged on my sleeve.  
  
"What's going on?" he wanted to know. "Why do you need a computer?"  
  
"Nothing," I said. Behind the wrought iron gate that led to the parking lot, the paramedics slammed the doors to the ambulance in which they'd loaded Mother Kaede and Kouga. A second later, they were pulling away in a whine of sirens and a flurry of flashing lights. "Just... it's stuff you wouldn't understand, Shippo. It isn't scientific."  
  
Dumb said, with no small amount of indignation, "I can understand lots of stuff that isn't scientific. Music for instance. I've taught myself to play Chopin on my electronic keyboard at home. That isn't scientific. The appreciation of music is purely emotional as is the appreciation of art. I can understand art and music. So come on, Kagome," he said. "You can tell me. Does it have anything to do with... what we were talking about the other night?"  
  
I turned to gaze down at him in surprise. He shrugged. "It was a logical conclusion. I made a cursory examination of the statue- cursory because I was unable to approach it closely as I would have liked thanks to the crime scene tape and evidence team- and was unable to discern any saw marks or other indication of how the head was severed. There is no possible way bronze can be cut that cleanly without the use of some sort of heavy machinery, but such machinery would never fit through..."  
  
"Mr. Higurashi!" a teacher sounded-guess who it was- like she meant business. "Would you like to be written up?"  
  
Shippo looked irritated. "No," he said.  
  
"No, what?"  
  
"No, Ma'am." he looked back at me, apologetically. "I guess I better go. But can we talk more about this tonight at home? I found out some stuff about- well, what you asked me. You know." He widened his eyes meaningfully. "About the house."  
  
"Oh," I said. "Great. Okay."  
  
"Mr. Higurashi!"  
  
Shippo turned to look at her. "Hold on a minute, okay, ma'am? I'm trying to have a conversation here."  
  
All of the blood left the middle-aged woman's face. It was incredible.  
  
She reacted as childishly as if she were the twelve-year-old, and not Shippo.  
  
"Come with me, young man," she said, seizing hold of Shippo's ear. "I can see your new stepsister has put some pretty big ideas into your head about how a boy speaks to his elders..."  
  
Shippo let out a noise like a wounded animal, but went along with the woman, hunched up like a shrimp; he was in so much pain. I swear I wouldn't have done anything- anything at all- if I hadn't suddenly noticed Ayame standing just inside the gate, laughing her head off.  
  
"Oh, God," she cried, gasping a little, she was laughing so hard. "If you could have seen your face when you heard Kouga was dead! I swear! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" She stopped laughing long enough to toss her long hair and say, "you know what? I think I'm going to clobber a few more people with stuff today. Maybe I'll start with that little guy over there..."  
  
I stepped toward her. "You lay one hand on my brother, and I'll stuff you right back into that grave you crawled out of."  
  
Ayame only laughed, but Miss Toriyama- I found out her name later- thought I was talking to her. She let go of Shippo so fast you'd have thought the kid suddenly caught on fire.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"  
  
Miss Toriyama was turning sort of purple. Behind her, Ayame laughed delightedly. "Oh, now you've done it. Detention for a week!"  
  
And just like that, she disappeared, leaving behind yet another mess for me to clean up.  
  
As much to my surprise as, I think, her own, Miss Toriyama could only stare at me. Shippo stood there rubbing his ear and looking bewildered. I said as quickly as I could, "we'll go back to our classrooms now. We were only concerned about Mother Kaede, and wanted to see her off."  
  
Miss Toriyama continued to stare at me. She didn't say anything. She was a big lady, not quite as tall as me in my two-inch-heels- I was wearing black batgirl boots- but much wider, with exceptionally large breasts.  
  
I guess it was at that time when Shippo stopped being "Dumb", and started being Shippo.  
  
"Don't worry," I told him, just before we parted ways because he looked so worried and cute and all with his red hair and freckles and sticky-outy ears. I reached out and rumpled some of that red hair. "Everything will be all right."  
  
Shippo looked up at me. "How do you KNOW?" he asked.  
  
I took my hand away.  
  
Because, of course, the truth was I didn't. Know everything was going to be all right, I mean. Far from it as a matter of fact.  
  
A/N: Okay, well that was a quick update. Don't expect another chapter until next weekend though, that is, unless I have a bunch of free time this week. I can almost guarantee you though, that I wont.  
  
In the next chapter, Kagome hangs out with Miroku and Sango, notices some "tension" as far as who likes who and all, and then visits Kouga in the hospital. 


	15. Chapter 15

Lunch was almost over by the time I cornered Miroku. I had spent almost the entire period in the library staring into a computer monitor. I still hadn't eaten, but the truth was, I wasn't hungry at all.  
  
"Hey," I said, sitting down next to him and crossing my legs so that my black skirt hiked up just the littlest bit. "Did you drive to school this morning?"  
  
Adam pounded on his chest. He'd started choking on a Frito the minute I'd sat down. When he finally got it down, he said, proudly, "I sure did. Now that I got my license, I am a driving machine. You should've come out with us last night, Kagome. We had a blast. Man, with last night's moon, the ocean was so beautiful..."  
  
"Would you mind taking me somewhere after school?"  
  
Miroku stood up fast, scaring two fat seagulls that had been sitting near the bench he was sharing with Sango. "Are you kidding me? Where do you want to go? You name it, Kagome; I'll take you there. China? You want to go to China? No problem. I mean, I'm sixteen, you're sixteen. We can get married there easy. You can bear my children too. My parents'll let us live with them, no problem. You don't mind sharing my room do you? I swear I'll pick up after myself from now on..."  
  
"Miroku," Sango said. "Don't be such a spaz. I highly doubt she wants to marry you."  
  
"I don't think it's a good idea to marry anyone until my divorce from my first husband is finalized," I said, gravely. "What I want to do is go to the hospital and see Kouga."  
  
Miroku's shoulders slumped. "Oh," he said. There was no missing the teasing dejection in his voice. "Is that all?"  
  
I realized I'd said the wrong thing. Still, I couldn't unsay it. Fortunately, Sango helped me out by saying, thoughtfully, "you know, a story about Kouga and Mother Kaede bravely battling back from their wounds wouldn't be a bad idea for the paper. Would you mind if I tagged along, Kagome?"  
  
"Not at all." A lie of course. With Sango along, it might be difficult to accomplish what I wanted without a lot of explaining...  
  
But what choice did I have? None.  
  
. Once I'd secured my ride, I started looking for Dumber. I found him dozing with his back to the monkey bars. I nudged him awake with the toe of my boot. When he squinted up at me through his sunglasses, I told him not to wait for me after school, that I'd found my own ride. He grunted, and went back to sleep.  
  
Then I went and found a pay phone. It's weird when you don't know your own mother's phone number. I mean, I still knew our number back home, but I didn't have the slightest idea what my new phone number was. Good thing I'd written it in my date book. I consulted the H's- for Higurashi- and found my new number, and dialed it. I knew no one was home, but I wanted to cover all my bases. I told the answering machine that I might be late getting back from school since I was going out with a couple of new friends. My mother, I knew, would be delighted when she got back from the station and heard it. She'd always worried, back home, that I was anti- social. She'd always go, "Kagome, you're such a pretty girl. I just don't understand why no boys ever call you. Maybe if you didn't look so... well, tough. How about giving the leather jacket a rest?"  
  
She'd probably have died of joy if she could have been in the parking lot after school and heard Miroku as I approached the car.  
  
"Oh, Sango, here she is." Miroku flung open the passenger door of his car- which turned out to be one of the new Volkswagen Bugs; I guess Miroku's parents weren't hurting for money- and shooed Sango into the backseat. "Come on, Kagome, you sit right up front with me."  
  
I peered through my sunglasses- as usual, the morning fog had burned away, and now at three o'clock the sun beat down hard from a perfectly clear blue sky- at Sango squashed in the back seat. "Um, really," I said. "Sango was here first. I'll sit in the back. I don't mind at all."  
  
"I wont hear of it." Miroku stood by the door, holding it open for me. "You're the new girl. The new girl gets to sit in the front."  
  
"Yeah," Sango said from the depths of the backseat, "until you refuse to sleep with him and bear his child. Then he'll regulate you to the backseat too."  
  
Miroku said, in a Wizard of Oz voice, "ignore that man behind the curtain."  
  
I slid into the front seat, and Miroku politely closed the door for me.  
  
"Are you serious?" I turned around to ask Sango as Miroku made his way around the car to the driver's seat.  
  
Sango blinked at me. "Do you really think anybody WOULD sleep with him?"  
  
I digested that. "I take it," I said, "that's a no then."  
  
"Damned straight," Sango said just as Miroku slid behind the wheel.  
  
"Now," the driver said, flexing his fingers experimentally before switching on the ignition. "I'm thinking this whole thing with the statue and Mother Kaede and Kouga has really stressed us all out. My parents have a hot tub, you know, which is really ideal for stress like the kind we've all been through today, and I suggest that we all go to my place first for a soak..."  
  
"Tell you what," I said. "Let's skip the hot tub this time, and just go straight to the hospital. Maybe, if there's time later..."  
  
"Yes." Miroku looked heavenward. "There is a god."  
  
Sango said, from the backseat, "She said MAYBE, numskull. God, try to control yourself."  
  
Miroku glanced at me as he eased out of his parking space. "Am I coming on too strong?"  
  
"Uh," I said. "Maybe..."  
  
"The thing is, it's been so long since even a remotely interesting girl has shown up around here." Miroku, I saw with some relief, was a very careful driver- not like Dumber, who seemed to think stop signs actually said pause. "I mean, I've been surrounded by Ayumi's and Ayame's for sixteen years. It's such a relief to have a Kagome Higurashi around for a change. You decimated Ayumi this morning when you went, 'hmm, do angels leave bloodstains? I don't think so.'"  
  
Miroku went on in this vein for the rest of the trip to the hospital. I wasn't quite sure how Sango could stomach it. Unless I was mistaken, she felt the same way about him that he evidently felt about me. Only I didn't think his crush on me was very serious- if it had been, he wouldn't have been able to joke about it. Sango's crush on him, however, looked to me like the real thing. Oh, she was able to tease him and even insult him, but I'd looked into the rear view mirror a couple times and caught her looking at the back of his head in a manner that could only be called, besotted.  
  
But just when she was sure he wasn't looking.  
  
When Miroku pulled up in front of the hospital, I thought he had stopped at a country club or private house by mistake. Okay, a really big private house, but hey, you should have seen some of the places in the valley.  
  
But then I saw a discreet little sign that said 'Hospital'. We piled out of the car and wandered through an immaculately kept garden, where the flowerbeds were bursting with blossoms.  
  
At the information desk, I asked for Kouga prince's room. I wasn't sure he'd been admitted actually, but I knew from experience- unfortunately firsthand- that any accident in which a head wound might have occurred generally required an overnight stay for observation- and I was right. Kouga was there, and so was Mother Kaede, conveniently situated right across the hall from one another.  
  
We weren't the only people visiting these particular patients—not by a long shot. Kouga's room was packed. There wasn't, apparently, any limit on just how many people could crowd into a patient's room, and Kouga's looked as if it contained most of the senior class. In the middle of the sunny, cheerful room- where on every flat surface rested vases filled with flowers- lay Kouga in a shoulder cast, his right arm hanging from a pulley over his bed. He looked a lot better the he had that morning, mostly, I suppose, because he was pumped full of painkillers. When he saw me in the doorway, this big goofy smile broke out over his face, and he went, "Kagome!"  
  
Only he pronounced it "Kah-ah-go-o-me-e," so it sounded like it had more than three syllables.  
  
"Uh, hi, Kouga," I said, suddenly shy. Everybody in the room had turned around to see whom Kouga was talking to. Most of them were girls. They all did that thing a lot of girls do- they looked me over from the top of my head- I hadn't showered that morning because I'd been running so late, so I was not exactly having a good hair day- to the soles of my feet.  
  
Then they smirked.  
  
Not so Kouga would have noticed. But they did.  
  
And even though I could not have cared less what a bunch of girls I had never met before, and would probably never meet again, thought of me, I blushed.  
  
"Everybody," Kouga said. He sounded drunk, but pleasantly so. "This is Kagome. Kagome, this is everybody."  
  
"Uh," I said. "Hi."  
  
One of the girls, who was sitting on the end of Kouga's bed in a very white, wrinkle-free linen dress, went, "oh, you're that girl who saved his life yesterday."  
  
"Yeah," I said. "That's me." There was no way- no way- I was going to ask Kouga what I needed to ask him with all these people in the room. Sango had steered Miroku off into Mother Kaede's room in order to give me some time alone with Kouga, but it looked as if she'd done so in vain. There was no way I was going to get a minute with this guy alone. Not unless...  
  
Well, not unless I asked for it.  
  
"Hey," I said. "I need to talk to Kouga for a second. Do you guys mind?"  
  
The girl on the end of the bed looked taken aback. "So talk to him. We're not stopping you."  
  
I looked her right in the eye and said, in my firmest miko voice, "I need to talk to him alone."  
  
Somebody whistled low and long. Nobody else moved. At least until Kouga went, "hey, you guys. You heard her. Get out."  
  
Thank God for morphine, that's all I have to say.  
  
Grudgingly, the senior class filed out, everybody casting me dirty looks but Kouga, who lifted a hand connected to what looked like an IV and went, "hey, Kagome. C'mere and look at this."  
  
I approached the bed. Now that we were the only people in it, I was able to see that Kouga had a very large room. It was also very cheerful, painted yellow, with a window that looked out over the garden outside.  
  
"See what I got?" Kouga showed me a palm-sized instrument with a button on top of it. "My own pain killer pump. Anytime I feel pain, I just hit this button, and it release codeine. Right into my blood stream. Cool, huh?"  
  
The guy was gone. That was obvious. Suddenly, I didn't think my mission was going to be so hard, after all.  
  
"That's great, Kouga," I said. "I was real sorry to hear about your accident."  
"Yeah." He giggled fatuously. "Too bad you weren't there. You might've been able to save me like you did yesterday."  
  
"Yes," I said, clearing my throat uncomfortably. "You certainly do seem accident-prone these days."  
  
"Yeah." His eyelids drifted closed, and for one panicky minute, I thought he'd gone to sleep. The he opened his eyes and looked at me kind of sadly. "Kagome, I don't think I'm going to make it."  
  
I stared at him. God, what a baby! "Of course you're going to make it. You've got a busted collarbone, is all. You'll be better in no time."  
He giggled. "No, no. I mean, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to our date on Saturday night."  
  
"Oh," I said, blinking. "Oh, no, of course not. I didn't think so. Listen Kouga; I need to ask you a favor. You're going to think this is weird..." actually, doped up as he was, I doubted he'd think it weird at all. "... But I was wondering whether, back when you and Ayame were going out, did she ever, um, give you anything?"  
  
He blinked at me groggily. "Give me anything? You mean like a present?'  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, yeah. She got me a cashmere sweater vest for Christmas."  
  
I nodded. A cashmere sweater vest wasn't going to do me any good. "Okay. Anything else? Maybe... a picture of herself?"  
  
"Oh," he said. "Sure, sure. She gave me her school picture."  
  
"She did?" I tried not to look too excited. "Any chance you've got it on you? In your wallet, maybe? It was a gamble, I knew, but most people only clean out their wallets once a year or so....  
  
He screwed up his face. I guess thinking must have been painful for him since I saw him give himself a couple of pumps of painkiller. Then his face relaxed. "Sure," he said. "I still got her picture. My wallet's in that drawer there."  
  
I opened the drawer to the table beside his bed. His wallet was indeed there, a slim black leather deal. I lifted it up and opened it. Ayame's photo was jammed between a gold Japanese Express card and a ski lift ticket. It showed her looking extremely glam, with her long blonde hair flowing over one shoulder, staring coquettishly into the camera. In my school pictures, I always looked like somebody just yelled "fire!" I couldn't believe this guy, who'd been dating a girl who looked like that, would bother asking a girl like me out.  
  
"Can I borrow this picture?' I asked. "I just need it for a little while. I'll give it right back."  
  
This was a lie, but I didn't figure he'd give it to me otherwise.  
  
Sure, sure," he said, waving a hand.  
  
"Thanks." I slipped the photo into my backpack just as a tall woman in her forties came striding in wearing a lot of gold jewelry and carrying a box of pastries.  
  
"Kouga, darling," she said. "Where did all your little friends go? I went all the way to the patisserie to get some snacks."  
  
"Oh, they'll be back in a minute mom," Kouga said, sleepily. "This is Kagome. She saved my life yesterday."  
  
Mrs. Prince held out a smooth, tanned right hand. "Lovely to meet you, Kagome," she said giving my fingers the slightest of squeezes. "Can you believe what happened to poor little Kouga? His father's furious. As if things hadn't been going badly enough, what with that wretched girl- well, you know. And now this. I swear, it's like that academy is cursed, or something."  
  
I said, "yes. Well nice to meet you. I'd better be going."  
  
Nobody protested against my departure- Mrs. Prince because she couldn't have cared less, and Kouga because he'd fallen asleep.  
  
I found Miroku and Sango standing outside a room across the hall. We all walked into Mother Kaede's room.  
  
To say that she looked surprised to see me would have been an understatement. Her mouth dropped open. She seemed perfectly incapable of saying anything.  
  
I sauntered over to Mother Kaede's side. I wasn't exactly excited to see her. I mean, I knew she probably wasn't too happy with me. I was the one whom Ayame had thrown Buddha's head at, and I figured she probably knew it, and probably wasn't feeling too warmly toward me.  
  
That's what I figured, anyway. But of course, I figured wrong. I'm pretty good at figuring out what dead demons are thinking, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of the living yet.  
  
"Kagome," Mother Kaede said in her gently voice. "What are you doing here? Is everything all right? I've been very concerned about you..."  
  
I guess I should have expected it. Mother Kaede wasn't sore at me at all. Just worried, that was ll. But SHE was the one who needed worrying over. Aside from the nasty gash above one eye, her color was off. She looked gray, and much older that she actually was. Only her eyes, blue as the sky outside, looked like thy always did, bright and filled with intelligent good humor.  
  
Still, it made me mad all over again, seeing her like that. Ayame didn't know it, but she was in for it, and how.  
  
"Me?" I stared at her. "What are you worried about ME for? I'm not the one who got clobbered this morning."  
  
Mother Kaede smiled ruefully. "No, but I believe you do have a little explaining to do. Why did you tell me what you had in mind? If I had known you planned on showing up at school, alone, in the middle of the night, I never would have allowed you."  
  
"Exactly why I didn't tell you, "I said. "Look, Mother, I'm sorry about the statue and Mr. Walden's door and all that. But I had to try talking to her myself, don't you see? Woman to woman. I didn't know she was going to go postal on me."  
  
"What did you expect? Kagome, you saw what she tried to do to that young man yesterday..."  
  
"Yeah, but I could understand that. I mean, she loved him. She's really mad at him. I didn't think she'd try to go after me. I mean, I had nothing to do with it. I just tried to let her know her options..."  
  
"Which is what I'd been doing ever since she first showed up at the school."  
  
"Right. But Ayame does not like any of the options we've put before her. I'm telling you, the girl's gone loco. She's quiet now because she thinks she's killed Kouga, and she's probably all tuckered out, but in a little while she's going t perk up again and God only knows what she'll do next now that she knows what she's capable of."  
  
Mother Kaede looked at me curiously, her concern over me forgotten. "What do you mean 'now that she knows what she's capable of'?"  
  
"Well, last night was just a dress rehearsal. We can expect nigger and better things from Ayame now that she knows what she can do."  
  
Mother Kaede shook her head, confused. "Have you seen her today? How do you know all this?"  
  
I couldn't tell Mother Kaede about Inuyasha. I really couldn't. It wasn't any of her business, for one thing. But I also had an idea it might kind of shock him, knowing there was this guy in my bedroom. I mean, Mother Kaede was a priestess and all.  
  
"Look," I said. "I've been giving this a lot of thought, and I don't see any other way. You've tried to reason with her, and so have I. And look where it's gotten us. You're in the hospital, and I have to look over my shoulder everywhere I go. I think it's time to settle the matter once and for all."  
  
Mother Kaede blinked at me. "What do you mean, Kagome? What are you talking about?"  
  
I took a deep breath. "I'm talking about what we mikos do as a last resort."  
  
She still looked confused. "Last resort? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."  
  
"I'm talking," I said," about an exorcism."  
  
A.N:  
  
I told you I wouldn't have an update until this weekend, so I stayed true to my word...  
  
Anyways, there's about four more chapters... left.... So....yah.  
  
I'll try and update again, by Sunday, and if not, I'm sorry...  
  
PLEASE REVIEW!!! 


	16. Chapter 16

"Out of the question," said Mother Kaede.  
  
Look," I said. "I don't see any other way. She won't go willingly, we both know that. And she's too dangerous to let hang around indefinitely. I think we're going to have to give her a push."  
  
Mother Kaede looked away from me, and stared bleakly at a spot on the ceiling above our heads. "That isn't what we're here for, people like you and me, Kagome," she said in the saddest voice I had ever heard. "We are the sentries who guard the gates of the afterlife. We are the ones who help guide lost souls to their final destinations. And every single one of the demons I've helped have passed my gate quite willingly..."  
  
Yeah. And if you clap hard enough, Tinker bell wont die. It must, I thought, have been nice to see the world through Mother Kaede's eyes. It seemed like a nice place. A lot better than the world I'd lived in for the past sixteen years.  
  
"Yes," I said. "Well, I don't see any other way."  
  
"An exorcism," Mother Kaede murmured. She said the word like it was distasteful, like mucus or something.  
  
"Look," I said, beginning to regret I'd said anything. "Believe me, it's not a method I recommend. But I don't see that we have much choice. Ayame's not just a danger to Kouga anymore." I didn't want to tell her what Ayame had said about Shippo. I could just see her jumping out of bed and hollering for a pair of crutches. But since I had already let spill what I was planning, I had to let her know why I felt such an extreme was necessary. "She's a danger to the whole school," I said. "She's got to be stopped."  
  
She nodded. "Yes. Yes, of course, you're right. But Kagome, you've got to promise me you wont try it until I've been released. I was talking to the doctor, and she says she might let me go as early as Friday. That will give us plenty of time to research the proper methodology..." she glanced at her bedside table. "Hand me that pen and tablet there. If we san get the wording right..."  
  
I handed her the pen and paper. "I'm pretty sure," I said, "that I've got it down pat."  
  
She lifted her gaze, pinning me with those piercing eyes of hers. "How could you possibly," she wondered, "have gotten anything as complicated as a Buddhist exorcism down pat?"  
  
I fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, I wasn't really planning on doing the Buddhist version."  
  
"Is they're another?"  
  
"Oh, sure. Most religions have one. Personally, I prefer Mecumba. It's pretty much to the point. No long incantations or anything."  
  
She looked pained. "Mecumba?"  
  
"Sure. Brazilian voodoo. I got it off the Net. All you need is some chicken blood and a..."  
  
"Kami-sama," Mother Kaede interrupted. Then, when she'd recovered herself, she said, "out of the question. Ayame was a Buddhist and despite the cause of her death, she deserves a Buddhist exorcism, if not burial."  
  
"Mother Kaede," I said. "I really don't think it mattes whether she gets a Buddhist exorcism or not. The fact is Ayame needs to be GONE."  
  
Mother Kaede made a tut-tutting noise. "Kagome, how can you say such a thing? There is good in everyone. Surely even you can se that?"  
  
"Even me? What do you mean, even me?"  
  
"Well, I mean, even Kagome Higurashi, who can be very heard on others, must see that even in the cruelest human being there can exist a flower of good. Maybe just the tiniest blossom, in need of water and sunlight, but a flower just the same."  
  
I wondered what kind of painkillers mother Kaede was on.  
  
I said, 'well, okay, Mother. All I know is, Ayame needs to move her butt outa this world and into the next."  
  
She smiled at me sadly. "I wish," she said, "you would listen to me. You MUST NOT attempt to stop Ayame on your own. It is extremely clear that she very nearly killed you last night. I could not believe my eyes when I walked out and saw the damage that she caused. You were lucky to escape with your life. And it is clear from what happened this morning that, like you say, she is only growing stronger. It would be stupid- criminally stupid- of you to try to do anything on your own again."  
  
I knew she as right. What's more, if I really go through with the exorcism thing, I couldn't let Inuyasha help me... the exorcism might send him back to his maker, right along with Ayame.  
  
"Besides," Mother Kaede said. "There isn't any reason to hurry, is there? Now that she's managed to hospitalize Kouga, she wont be up to any more mischief- at least not until he comes back to school. He seemed to be the only person she entertains murderous feelings for."  
  
I didn't say anything. How could I? I mean, the poor woman looked so pathetic lying there. I didn't want to give her more to worry about. But the truth was, I couldn't possible wait for Mother Kaede to get out of the hospital. Ayame meant business. With every day that passes, she will only get stronger and nastier, and more filled with hate. I had to get rid of her, and I had to get rid of her soon.  
  
So I lied.  
  
"Don't worry mother Kaede," I said, "I'll wait till you're feeling better."  
  
Mother Kaede was no dummy though. She went, "Promise me Susannah."  
  
I said, "I promise."  
  
I had my fingers crossed of course.  
  
She went to muttering over her exorcism grocery list, as Miroku and Sango came into the room.  
  
"Hey, Mother Kaede," Miroku said. "Boy do you look terrible." Sango elbowed him. "Miroku," she hissed. Then, to mother, she said brightly. "Don't listen to him, Mother Kaede. I think you look great. Well, for having a bunch of broken bones, I mean."  
  
"Children." Mother Kaede looked really happy to see them. "What a delight! But why are you wasting a beautiful afternoon like this one visiting an old woman in a hospital? You ought to be down at the park enjoying the nice weather."  
  
"We're actually here doing an article for the school paper about the accident," Sango said. "We just got gone interviewing the teachers at school. It's really unfortunate about the Buddha's head..."  
  
"Yeah," Miroku said. "A real bummer."  
  
"Well," mother Kaede said. "Never mind that."  
  
A nurse came in and told Sango and I that we had to leave because she had to give Mother Kaede her sponge bath.  
  
"Sponge bath," Miroku grumbled as we made our way back to the car. "Mother Kaede gets a sponge bath, but me, a guy who can actually appreciate something like that, what do I get?"  
  
"A chance to play chauffer to the two most beautiful girls in town? Sango offered helpfully.  
  
"Yeah," Miroku said. "Right." Then he glanced at me. "Not that you aren't the most beautiful girl in town, Kagome... I just meant... well, you know..."  
  
"I know," I said, with a smile.  
  
"I mean, a sponge bath. And did you get a look at that nurse? If it were me all battered in that hospital, I'd never want to leave." Miroku held the passenger seat forward so Sango could crawl into the backseat. "There must be something to this priest thing. Maybe I should enroll."  
  
From the backseat Sango said. "You don't enroll, you receive a calling. And believe me, Miroku, you wouldn't like it. They don't let priests get married."  
  
Miroku digested this. "Maybe I could form a new order," he said thoughtfully. "We'd be the Dating, marrying, womanizing, 'Asking Women to Bear Our Children' order."  
  
We were on Tokyo Main Road. Just beyond the low stonewall to our right was the enormous yellow ball of the sun hovering. I guess I must have been looking a it a little longingly- I still hadn't gotten used to seeing it all the time- because Miroku went, "aw, hell," and zipped into a parking space that a BMW had just vacated. I looked at him questioningly as he threw the car into park and he said, "what? You don't have time to sit and watch the sunset?"  
  
I was out of the car in a flash.  
  
I wondered a little while later, had I ad I ever not looked forward to moving here? Sitting on a blanket Miroku had extricated from the trunk of his car, watching the joggers and the evening walkers, and the tourists with cameras, I felt better than I had in a long time. It might have been the fact that I was still operating on about four hours of sleep. I might have been the heavy odor of brine was clouding my senses. But I really felt, for the first time in what seemed like forever, at peace.  
  
Which was weird, considering the fact that in a few hours, I was going to be doing battle with the forces of evil.  
  
But until then, I decided to enjoy myself. I turned my faced toward the setting sun, feeling its warming rays on my cheeks, and listened to the roaring of the waves, the shrieking of the gulls, and the chatter of Sango and Miroku.  
  
"So I said to her, Akira, you're nearly forty. If you and dad want to have another kid, you had better hurry. Time is not on your side." Miroku sipped a latte he'd picked up from a coffee shop near where we parked. "And she was all, 'But your father and I don't want you to feel threatened by the new baby,' and I was like, 'Akira, babies don't threaten me.' You know what makes me feel threatened? Steroid-pooping Neanderthals like Kouga Prince. They threaten me."  
  
Sango shot Miroku a warning look, and then looked at me. "How are you getting along with your new stepbrothers, Kagome?"  
  
I tore my eyes away from the setting sun. "All right, I guess."  
  
The great orange ball seemed to sink into the sky as it began its slow descent below the horizon.  
  
"There goes the sun," Sango sang softly.  
  
"Da da da da da," Miroku said.  
  
"There goes the sun." I joined in.  
  
Okay I have to admit; it was kind of childish, sitting there singing, watching the sun go down. But it was also kind of fun. Back home, we used to sit in the park and watch the undercover cops arrest drug dealers. But that wasn't any where near as nice as this, singing happily on a clearing as the sun went down.  
  
Something strange was happening. I wasn't sure what it was.  
  
"And I say," the three of us sang, "It's all right!"  
  
And strangely enough, at that moment, I actually believed it would be. All right, I mean.  
  
And that's when I realized what was happening:  
  
I was fitting in. me, Kagome Higurashi, miko. I was fitting it somewhere for the first time in my life.  
  
And I was happy about it. Really happy. I actually believed, just then, that everything was going to be all right.  
  
Boy, was I ever in denial.  
  
A/N:  
  
Another long wait for an update. I'm SORRY!!!  
  
Busy week, really, and even a busy weekend. I had to go to a track meet yesterday, for like 7 hours, and got REALLY sunburned... and... just OUCH! Then I had to go out to eat with my family because of Mother's day and all... so...  
  
Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!! 


	17. AN

A/N  
  
Ok, so HI! It's been a long time since I've updated, and I have a big reason for that....  
  
My computer crashed. For the last... who knows when, my computer's beeen broken, and the new story I updated, "Gone" was just soething I wrote on my computer at a friends's house... so ny computer's been crashed.... And write now I'm at camp.... So yah.... I'll get back to you later. 


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